NZ stocks: Market suffers slight dip

The New Zealand sharemarket fell today but outperformed other markets in Asia care of gains by market leader Fletcher Building and others.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 24.914 points, or 0.877 per cent, at 2815.713. Turnover was worth $121.8 million, of which $40m was in Telecom shares. There were 24 rises and 63 falls among the 115 stocks traded.

The Australian market was down 2 per cent as the New Zealand market closed and the Hong Kong market was down more than 2 per cent in the wake of a decline on Wall Street.

"We are a more defensive market. We haven't got those highly cyclical commodity stocks," said Barry Lindsay, research manager at First NZ Capital.

Fletcher Building was a cyclical stock but it was coming back into favour care of an improving outlook for housing, he said. Fletcher Building rose 1c at to 699 and traded as high as 710 today. Mr Lindsay said Fletcher Building was trading near its year high and investors had liked the board changes announced this week.

Today Auckland based real estate company Barfoot & Thompson reported its best month's trading in more than two years.

Contact Energy, which froze power prices for about a quarter of its customers until at least October 2010, fell 5c to 595.

Restaurant Brands rose 2c to 98 after yesterday reporting a 4.3 per cent rise in sales in the first quarter.

"It is doing well in difficult times," Mr Lindsay said.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 4c to 307, which Mr Lindsay attributed to the weakness in the NZ dollar.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances fell 9c to 102.

Consultant Opus fell 8c to 127 after announcing staff cuts in response to a weak market.

SkyTV fell 10c to 440. "It has lost a little bit of ground after gaining 10 per cent in the previous two trading days," Mr Lindsay said.

Tower fell 7c to 177. Westpac rose 50c to 2400 and ANZ rose 20c to 2070.

Telecom fell 3c at 256 after saying sales are going well for its new mobile network.

Sanford fell 5c to 570 and SkyCity fell 2c to 279. Lion Nathan rose 5c to 1475.

US stocks tumbled on Wednesday, halting a four-day winning streak, as falling oil prices hit energy shares, while less upbeat economic reports rekindled worries about recovery prospects.

Investors took a one-two punch from data showing the vast service sector contracted for the eight straight month in May and from a report showing employers axed 532,000 private-sector jobs last month.

"In the last few days we've had a strong rally, but the fact of the matter is that the economy is still struggling right now," said Giri Cherukuri, head trader at OakBrook Investments LLC.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 65.63 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 8675.24. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 12.98 points, or 1.37 per cent, to 931.76. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 10.88 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 1825.92.

- NZPA