KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket turned its back on this morning's small gain, ending in the red after a quiet session.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 12.35 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 2844.31.
The index received a 35-point boost yesterday from Australian shares, which raced up 5.1 per cent ahead of today's expected rate cut.
The Reserve Bank of Australia delivered a 75-basis point cut late this afternoon to 5.25 per cent, larger than generally expected although the market had begun pricing in a cut of that magnitude.
Also putting the breaks on activity in Australia today was the Melbourne Cup.
"...No clear trend at the moment and we're just waiting for company-specific news," said First NZ Capital director Philip Hunter of New Zealand trading.
"Hallenstein had a profit downgrade, which is probably just reflective of what's happening out in the economy and the retail sector as a whole, so I don't think that was necessarily a surprise to the market although the share price is down," Mr Hunter said.
Hallenstein Glasson saw first quarter sales decline nearly 7 per cent from a year earlier, pushing its shares down 7c to 238.
Hallensteins followed Briscoe Group, which said third quarter sales fell 11.2 per cent from a year earlier to $77.8m. Briscoe shares rose 4c to 84.
Among blue chips, Telecom was down 7c at 237, Contact Energy fell 20c to 735, Fletcher Building rose 4c to 584, and Auckland Airport rose 4c to 181.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 9c at 311, F&P Appliances gained 5c to 150, Sky City lost 7c to 312, and Sky TV rose 7c to 407.
The Warehouse was up 4c at 399, Tower gained 5c to 160 and TrustPower, which yesterday posted a first half profit of $66.8 million, was up 10c at 750.
Mainfreight lost 4c to 535, Sanford fell 15c to 560, Michael Hill lost 2c to 69, and Ryman Healthcare fell 6c to 151.
Dual-listed stocks were generally positive, with ANZ up 30c at 2100, Westpac up 115 at 2515 and AMP up 27c at 670, but Lion Nathan down 30c at 985.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 0.5 per cent at 4200, recovering from early lows, and Japan's Nikkei share average rose 4.9 per cent.
Earlier, Wall Street was calm but put in a mixed performance ahead of the presidential election.
- NZPA
