Telecom leads NZ stocks down

File Photo

The New Zealand sharemarket shed some of yesterday's gains, despite rises in markets around the world.

The benchmark NZX-50 index lost 12.76 points to close at 3008.43, after yesterday's gain of 26 points.

Depressing the market was Telecom's 2 per cent drop, amid calls for the telco to come clean over its plans for voluntary separation after it sought changes to its undertakings made to the Government.

Telecom closed down 4c at 193.

Fletcher Building gained a cent to 774, but it was out of step with other blue chips.

Contact Energy fell 9c, or 1.6 per cent, to 560 after the power company said its generation fell nearly 3 per cent for the year ended June. Auckland Airport lost 2c to 195, Sky City fell a cent to 298, Infratil was down a cent at 162, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare shed a cent to 294.

Rakon continued the rise which started on Thursday, closing up 4c at 105, and Restaurant Brands was up a cent at 238.

Tourism Holdings was up 3c, or 4 per cent, at 78 after announcing a one-off, $0.9 million reduction in its annual net profit as a result of government tax changes in the budget.

Abano Healthcare rose 10c to 530 ahead of the release of its $4.4m annual net profit, in line with forecast, after the market closed.

Air New Zealand was up 2c at 114, Hallenstein Glasson was up 5c at 368, Trustpower rose 5c to 730, and Ebos Group was up 15c at 630.

On the decline, outdoor gear company Kathmandu was down 2c at 209, Port of Tauranga lost 6c to 684, and Tower fell 2c to 185.

Dual-listed stocks were generally firmer with Westpac up 80c at 2910, ANZ up 26c at 2821 and Telstra 2c higher at 398, although AMP was down 4c at 661.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 0.3 per cent at 4500, while Asian stocks hit a two-and-a-half month high.

Markets were boosted by earlier gains on the back of US data showing a pick-up in new home sales, reviving hopes for improvement in a tepid economic recovery.

- NZPA