KEY POINTS:
A slew of strong company results today was not enough to push the sharemarket into the black after hefty falls on Wall Street overnight.
Contact Energy, Mainfreight, Sky TV and Skellerup all rose after positive financial reports. However, falls among top stocks Telecom and Fletcher Building helped set a negative tone for the market.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 17.0 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 3569, on turnover totalling $167.8 million.
"Really the stock that has dragged the market down is Telecom, as usual the biggest cap stock (is) the culprit, and I don't think there's anything particular about it, it's just reflecting weak overseas markets," said Macquarie Equities NZ investment director Arthur Lim.
"Some good results coming through, and we're starting to see the market react to some of these good results rather than the continuous wholesale lethargy that's characterised our market," he added.
Contact was up 10c at 765 after it reported a 4 per cent drop in half-year net profit $117.4m, near the top end of market expectations.
"Implicit in it is an earnings upgrade, so the share price reflects that," Mr Lim said.
Mainfreight rose 12c to 605 after it reported a 25 per cent lift in third quarter net profit, saying conditions were improved on a year ago.
Sky Network Television closed up 6c at 500 after reporting a 40 per cent rise in first half profit to $51.2m, due to increased advertising income and growth in subscriber revenue.
Rubber products company Skellerup was up 3c at 84 after interim net profit rose 6 per cent, and a forecast rise in annual profit to $12.5m.
"What we're starting to see is some of the New Zealand companies are able to foot it in the domestic slowdown environment that we've had," Mr Lim said.
Telecom fell 6c to 401, Fletcher Building was down 3c at 950, Auckland Airport lost 3c to 280, Vector fell a cent to 197, and Sky City fell a cent to 391. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare lost 4c to 262, and F&P Appliances rose a cent to 259.
Also reporting today, newcomer NZ Farming Systems Uruguay rose a cent to 141 after posting a first half net loss of US$6.8 million ($8.6 million), reflecting a performance fee payable to parent PGG Wrightson.
Jeweller Michael Hill International fell a cent to 106, after it reported a 27.1 per cent rise in half year net profit after tax to $19.5m.
PGG Wrightson was up 8c at 204, Air New Zealand rose 2c to 182, Methven gained 6c to 170, and Tower rose 2c to 210.
Rakon fell 10c to 275, The Warehouse fell 5c to 600, Steel & Tube lost 19c to 327, and Nuplex fell 10c to 565.
Lion Nathan jumped 33c to 1090, AMP was up 5c at 900, ANZ lost 20c to 2480, and Westpac was down 12c at 2600.
Australia's benchmark index was down 0.4 per cent at 5561, and Japan's Nikkei share average fell 1.5 per cent.
Earlier on Wall Street, US stocks tumbled on recession fears and a sharp pullback in crude oil prices that hurt shares of energy companies, including Exxon Mobil and Chevron.
- NZPA
