KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket closed lower today, led by a decline in Telecom's share price after it announced plans to spend $574 million on a new mobile network.
Investors also took profits after the market rose 6 per cent yesterday, and doubts about economic growth re-emerged.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 44.332 points, or 1.503 per cent, at 2904.642. Yesterday it gained 167 points.
Volume was worth $82.85 million with brokers saying volume outside Telecom was thin.
Telecom closed down 14c, or 5.43 per cent, at 244.
"Investors are concerned they are increasing their capital expenditure and aren't going to see any major pay back from it for a few years," said Grant Williamson, partner at Hamilton Hindin Greene.
In the US, a day after the Dow Jones industrial average leaped 936.42 points in its biggest one-day point gain ever, it lost 0.8 per cent, to 9310.99.
Asian stocks fell and gold rose today as investor worried that a weakening global economy will reduce corporate earnings. Money markets continued to heal gradually, which was good for banks.
"Investors continue to concentrate on what is happening overseas," Mr Williamson said.
He said investors accepted there was no quick fix but there had been confidence yesterday.
"If those offshore markets were to flatten out a bit I think that confidence would continue to grow," he said.
Auckland Airport rose 1c to 183 and Air NZ eased 2c to 87.
Contact fell 12c to 735 and Fletcher Building eased 12c to 623.
Freightways rose 11c to 335 and Mainfreight rose 6c to 540.
Hellaby rose 2c to 185 and Sanford rose 1c to 536. Pike River eased 4c to 147. The Warehouse was unchanged at 354. Rakon rose 2c to 222. GPG eased 4c to 102 and Steel & Tube fell 1c to 370. SkyTV eased 9c to 400.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 0.5 per cent to 998.01, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 3.5 per cent to 1779.01.
Investors looked past the and instead focused on the dismal outlook for earnings and the economy.
- NZPA
