KEY POINTS:
Shares fell for the eighth consecutive session as a timid rally gave way to further declines, ignoring earlier gains on Wall Street.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index slumped 1.2 per cent yesterday to a 14-month low, and ended today down 0.4 per cent, or 13 points, at 3810.5. Turnover was a moderate $131 million.
"What rallies our market and the Australian market tried to put in this morning weren't sustainable, and didn't feel all that convincing at the time," said Matt Willis of ABN Amro Craigs.
"Sentiment is driving this market to a large degree, and heading into the reporting season I suppose the market's perhaps anticipating the possibility of earnings revisions."
There had been no material earnings downgrades so far, but investors' appetite for risk was diminishing amid current global uncertainty.
"Look at a day like this, where the US markets have rebounded and there's been no follow-through in this part of the world, it tells you a pretty clear picture about how cautiously investors are proceeding at the moment," Mr Willis said.
Top stock Telecom was down 2c at 418, Fletcher Building lost a cent to 1056, Contact Energy fell a cent to 804, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 2c at 337, and Auckland International Airport was up 4c at 274.
Takeover target Sky City recovered 11c to 420, having been sold down aggressively to yesterday's four-and-a-half month low.
Sky TV was down 9c at 542, Kiwi Income Property Trust rose a cent to 130, and Vector was steady at 222.
Exporters declined, reflecting a month-high for the New Zealand dollar around US79c. Rakon shed 24c, or 6 per cent, to 351 and F&P Appliances lost 10c to 300.
Hallenstein Glasson was down 15c at 355, Steel and Tube was down 15c at 350, Nuplex was down 10c at 653, Mainfreight lost 7c to 588, and Air New Zealand fell 4c to 180.
On the rise, investment company Hellaby was up 7c at 227, The Warehouse rose 6c to 576, Freightways was up 3c at 363, Pumpkin Patch gained 3c to 243, and Ryman Healthcare was up 3c at 193.
Motor maker Wellington Drive Technologies rose a cent to 45, after announcing a $1.5 million contract with an unnamed company.
Dual-listed stocks were mixed, with ANZ up 30c at 2980, Westpac up 6c at 2930, AMP down 10c at 1030, and Lion Nathan down 5c at 1060.
Australia's benchmark index was down 0.3 per cent at 5960.5, and Japan's Nikkei share average was down 0.8 per cent.
Earlier, US stock indexes rose more than 1 per cent after strong results from IBM relieved concerns about the global economy and spurred a broad rebound from last week's slide.
More than half of IBM's revenue gains were due to currency benefits, suggesting other companies with big foreign sales, such as McDonald's Corp and Caterpillar Inc, could profit from the weakened US dollar.
- NZPA
