Telecom dips but Fletcher lifts after profit forecast

File photo / Supplied

Telecom's share price fell 4.1 per cent and Fletcher Building's share price rose nearly 1 per cent yesterday, putting the leaders in the spotlight for different reasons.

Investors liked what they heard at the Fletcher Building annual meeting yesterday even though the company was cautious about its short-term prospects, while Telecom was trading ex a 3.5c-a-share dividend and suffered a bout of profit taking on a day in which regional sharemarkets were weak after a sell-off on Wall St.

The NZX-50 index fell 25.75 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 3289.31. There were 15 rises and 67 falls among the 107 stocks traded.

Telecom fell 9c to $2.11 and Fletcher Building rose 7c to $8.01.

"Telecom is having a bit of a breather," said Peter Sigley at Goldman Sachs & Partners. The company said yesterday it would not offer a dividend reinvestment plan for the first-quarter dividend because of a delay in the announcement of the Government's broadband plans.

"I'm not sure if it can be construed to be positive or negative - it should not have caused the move in isolation," said Sigley.

Fletcher Building rose after reassuring comments at the annual meeting in Auckland. Sigley said there were some jitters ahead of the meeting after various reports of the potential for a double-dip recession.

The largest building company in the country said its annual net earnings would be well within a range of analysts' forecasts between $311 million and $405 million and they would be broadly in line with the average consensus estimate. Brokers said the average was $357 million.

Air NZ fell 4c to $1.32 as the media continued to report on a fare price-war in the transtasman market.

Mainfreight, which is expected to reports its interim result today, rose 4c to $7.40.

Infrastructure investor Infratil's shares were steady at $1.87 after reaching a two-year high of $1.94 on Tuesday morning on solid half-year results. Accounting software firm Xero continued its recent run, rising 9c to $2.05.

AMP, which is trying to buy Axa Asia Pacific's Australian and New Zealand business, fell 16c to $6.60.

In the United States, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 177.75 points, or 1.59 per cent, to 11,024.22.

- NZPA