Telecom leads NZ stocks down

Telecom's share price fell 4.1 per cent and Fletcher Building's share price rose nearly a per cent today putting the leaders in the spotlight for different reasons.

Investors liked what they heard at the Fletcher Building annual meeting today even though the company was cautious about its short-term prospects, while Telecom was trading ex a 3.5 cent a share dividend and suffered a bout of profit taking on a day in which regional sharemarkets were weak after a sell off on Wall Street.

The benchmark NZX-50 index fell 25.754 points, falling 0.777 per cent, to 3289.306. There were 15 rises and 67 falls among the 107 stocks traded.

Telecom fell 9c to 211 and Fletcher Building rose 7c to 801.

"Telecom is having a bit of a breathier," said Peter Sigley at Goldman Sachs & Partners.

The company said today that it would not offer a dividend reinvestment plan for the first quarter dividend because of a delay in the announcement of the Government's broadband plans.

"I'm not sure if it can be construed to be positive or negative - it should not have caused the move in isolation," said Mr Sigley.

Fletcher Building rose after reassuring comments at the annual meeting in Auckland. Mr Sigley said there were some jitters ahead of the meeting after various reports of the potential for a double dip recession investors thought the company might downgrade its profit guidance.

The largest building company in the country said its annual net earnings would be well within a range of analysts' forecasts between $311 million and $405m and they would be broadly in line with the average consensus estimate. Brokers said the average was $357m.

Air NZ fell 4c to 132 as the media continued to report on a price war on fares in the trans-Tasman market.

Mainfreight, which is expected to reports its interim result tomorrow, rose 4c to 740.

Infrastructure investor Infratil's shares were unchanged at 187 after reaching a two-year high of 194 yesterday morning on solid half-year results.

Contact Energy lost 4c to 591, SkyTV fell 6c to 531, while casino company Sky City fell 3c to 316.

Other stocks to decline included Nuplex, down 6c at 332, Freightways, down 6c at 298, and Ryman, off 3c at 216. Abano Healthcare fell 11c to 505.

Accounting software firm Xero continued its recent run, rising 9c to 205.

AMP, which is trying to buy Axa Asia Pacific's Australian and New Zealand business, fell 16c to 660.

In the United States, stocks fell broadly on Tuesday as worries of tighter credit in China and growing concerns over Europe's debt problems prompted investors to dump materials and tech shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 177.75 points, or 1.59 per cent, to 11,024.22, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 19.41 points, or 1.62 per cent, to 1178.34, and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 39.32 points, or 1.56 per cent, to 2474.50.

- NZPA