NZ stocks: market inches lower in quiet session

The sharemarket closed a touch lower today with little in the way of company news to provide direction.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 6.47 points, or 0.26 per cent, at 2462.7, having lost just 1.9 points yesterday. Turnover totalled $75.4 million.

Top stock Telecom was down 2c at 235, Contact Energy lost 5c to 560, Fletcher Building gained 2c to 515, and Auckland Airport was down 2c at 169.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 4c to 346, F&P Appliances lost 2c to 51, Sky City fell 4c to 252 and Sky TV dropped 14c to 370.

"There was just not a lot of company news that was driving any share price particularly," said First NZ Capital director Philip Hunter.

"The focus I guess is coming on where interest rates are going, and then what that means to investors with respect to dividends."

The Reserve Bank releases its decision on interest rates on Thursday, with economists picking a cut in the official cash rate by between 50 and 100 basis points from the current 3.50 per cent.

A rate cut would aim to help shore up the New Zealand economy amid a global economic slowdown.

"I think a lot of companies will be weighing up the pros and cons of increasing or reducing their dividends relative to paying off debt," Mr Hunter said.

Rebuilding of balance sheets was also a theme - cutting debt or building a buffer against hard times.

Among stocks on the decline were Port of Tauranga, down 10c at 515, Tower, down 3c at 135, Skellerup, off 4c at 51, and Pumpkin Patch, down 3c at 101.

On the other side, NZ Oil and Gas was up 6c at 141, Air NZ gained 2c to 80, Vector rose 4c to 219, and Nuplex was up 8c at 103.

ANZ was up 50c at 1635, Westpac rose 51c to 2081 and AMP was 5c higher at 490.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 0.7 per cent at 3176, while Japan's Nikkei share average lost 0.4 per cent.

Aside from the Nikkei's near 26-year intraday low, Asian shares rebounded from a three-session losing streak led by banks, including heavyweight HSBC.

Earlier on Wall Street, US stocks fell in choppy trade and the Nasdaq slid to a fresh six-and-a-half-year low as shares of the biggest drugmakers fell after Merck's proposed a US$41 billion ($83.9 billion) takeover of Schering-Plough.

(Philip Hunter's disclosure statement is available on request)

- NZPA