NZ stocks: Share market finishes down

New Zealand shares followed European and United States stocks down and the move was across the board.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed 43.565 points, or 1.668 per cent, down at 2568.905, on top of yesterday's fall of nearly 21 points.

Turnover was worth $117.5 million, of which much was in Telecom shares. There were 20 rises and 54 falls among the 105 stocks traded.

"We are entering a period of profit-taking," said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton, Hindin, Greene.

"The weak offshore markets are weighing on stocks and weakness is pretty much across the board," he said.

Fletcher Building dropped 10c to 605, adding to its 5c loss yesterday, while Contact Energy dropped 25c to 570.

Telecom was down 12c to 237.

Investors' appetite for risk was starting to decrease again, Mr Williamson said.

Restaurant Brands gained 1c to 86, after reporting its annual net profit, excluding non-trading items, rose by 13 per cent to $11.7 million.

Freightways eased 8c to 270 after it completed a $45 million underwritten placement yesterday.

Nuplex eased 1c to 30 on a day it defended a call option for sub-underwriters of its rights issue.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare made a solid gain, rising 17c to 299, having been weaker earlier in the week. It is seen as reflecting changes in the NZ dollar. The weak NZ dollar today was positive for exporters. Fisher and Paykel Appliances eased 1c to 43.

Xero rose 13c to 132 after the online accounting software company this week raised $23.2 million.

The Warehouse eased 10c to 330 and Vector eased 8c to 210. Tenon eased 5c to 65 and TrustPower eased 4c to 690.

Tourism Holdings eased 1c to 48 and Westpac eased 95c to 2455. Ebos eased 15c to 465 and Air NZ eased 2c to 94. Mainfreight eased 8c to 396.

US stocks slid on Tuesday on fears that companies will show they struggled in the first quarter.

Alcoa reported a quarterly loss on falling demand and sharply lower prices. Its shares slipped 1.4 per cent.

Earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to fall by 36.9 per cent, according to Thomson Reuters data. Analysts said they would be watching for comments from companies on outlooks for the rest of the year to see if the recent rally is sustainable.

"The key is going be what companies say about the future," said Craig Hester, chief executive of Hester Capital Management in Austin, Texas.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 186.29 points, or 2.34 per cent, to 7789.56. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 19.93 points, or 2.39 per cent, to 815.55. The Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 45.10 points, or 2.81 per cent, at 1561.61.

- NZPA