KEY POINTS:
A 13 per cent fall in Auckland Airport shares today swamped any positive influences from offshore, including a 1.5 per cent gain in the Dow Jones overnight.
Auckland Airport shares closed down 38c at 245, just above the session low of 243, on speculation the Canada Pension Fund will pull its bid due to the Government passing legislation last night wiping out the tax advantages for the fund.
The CPPIB said this afternoon it would proceed with its partial offer, but that failed to quell investor concerns with the stock slipping a few cents further after the announcement.
That helped push the benchmark NZSX-50 index down 0.8 per cent to close at 3543.26. Turnover totalled $91.9 million, of which $31.5 million was Auckland Airport.
"Overall, the New Zealand market again was fairly disappointing, down 27.5 points on the back of what were fairly strong offshore markets," said Hamilton Hindin Greene director Adrian Vance.
"With the exception of Auckland Airport and probably some of the other major stocks, the market's still very, very quiet, fairly directionless."
Telecom, which went ex a 7cps dividend yesterday, fell 3c to 386, its lowest level since December 21, 1993.
Fletcher Building rose 13c to 975, Contact Energy was a cent higher at 765, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was unchanged at 255, F&P Appliances rose 3c to 256, and Vector was down 3c at 190.
Casino operator Sky City, which yesterday gained 5c after it pleasantly surprised the market with a strong first half result, was down 10c at 386.
The Warehouse continued to gain on speculation Woolworths will make a pre-emptive takeover bid strike, up another 1c to 615 after gaining 14c yesterday.
Investment company Hellaby Holdings rose 13c to 207 on very light turnover after an improved interim profit of $5 million, and the company's comments it was on track to turn around last year's loss.
PGG Wrightson was unchanged at 210 after it made a conditional offer for Keith Seeds in Australia.
Abano Healthcare fell 5c to 475 after suitor Crescent Capital said it waived the 90 per cent acceptances condition on its $5.20 per share offer, if it passes the 50 per cent threshold.
NZ Oil and Gas was up 3c at 119, Port of Tauranga was up 5c at 645, Ryman Healthcare rose 4c to 178, and Ebos was up 5c at 485 after boosting interim net profit by 86 per cent.
With the New Zealand dollar hitting a post-float high of US81.53c, Tourism Holdings fell 4c to 185, and exporter Rakon fell 2c to 285.
Pyne Gould Corp whose strong result including a standout performance from Marac, rose 40c, or 12 per cent, to 370.
NZ Refining fell 6c to 700, Michael Hill fell 3c to 104, Air New Zealand fell 2c to 176, and Hallenstein Glasson was down 5c at 380.
Australia's benchmark index was up 0.7 per cent at 5659, while Japan's Nikkei share average was down 0.5 per cent.
Earlier on Wall Street, US stocks rose sharply on signs the two largest bond insurers would stabilise, bringing a wave of relief to a market dogged by concerns of further bank write-downs.
- NZPA
