KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket closed at a four-month low today as investors punished top stock Telecom for a disappointing annual result.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index lost 15.79 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 4122.41 on turnover totalling $171 million.
The index has shed over 100 points during the week, and has lost ground in six consecutive sessions amid global seesawing on the back of US credit concerns.
"People are just running a bit scared, there's a reasonable amount of volatility around and I think people are just holding fire," said Campbell Stuart of UBS.
Telecom shed 3.4 per cent, or 15c, to a 10-month low of 432 after forecasting a fall of up to 8 per cent in New Zealand earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation this year.
The forecast for group net earnings after tax of between $680m to $720m was below analyst expectations of $757m.
Telecom announced a bottom line annual profit of $3.02 billion, two-thirds of it from the sale of the Yellow Pages Group.
"The Telecom result, and then the Commerce Commission coming out straight after it, set a slightly negative tone that people weren't quite expecting, and the market's just continued to fade," Mr Stuart said.
The Commerce Commission said in a draft report it recommended regulation of mobile roaming after rejecting an undertaking from Vodafone, which it said did not go far enough to encourage competition in New Zealand's mobile duopoly.
In contrast, second-ranked Fletcher Building surged 2.8 per cent, or 34c, to 1250 after announcing the planned closure of its board plant in south Auckland, with the loss of 65 jobs. The company also said it had purchased Australian-based AG&S Building Systems and Hi Tech Pty Ltd, trading as Fair Dinkum Homes and Sheds.
Among other blue chips, Contact Energy was up 13c at 930, Auckland Airport was flat at 328, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up a cent at 329, and F&P Appliances lost 9c to 348.
Retirement village company Ryman Healthcare rose 5c to 209 after affirming annual earnings guidance of 20 per cent growth.
The Warehouse rose 14c to 625 after saying it had joined appeals by Woolworths and Foodstuffs against the Commerce Commission's rejection of their applications to take over the Red Shed owner.
Air New Zealand was flat at 266 after news it is buying four Boeing long-haul 777-300ER planes and retaining its fuel surcharge.
Nuplex was up 5c at 685 and Mainfreight gained 5c to 745, while Freightways was down 12c at 385.
Among dual-listed stocks, ANZ was up 55c at 3120, Westpac gained 55c to 2900, AMP lost 7c to 1110, and Lion Nathan rose 20c to 980.
Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.1 per cent, and Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was also little changed, up 4.8 points at 6016.
Earlier on Wall Street, US stocks rose in another late rally as enthusiasm about strong earnings tempered nervousness about more weakness in credit conditions with news another mortgage lender may fold.
- NZPA
