NZ stocks: Market closes down

The New Zealand sharemarket started the day slightly ahead and ended it slightly lower.

The unspectacular trading came after stocks in the United States edged higher as investors bought beaten-down technology and commodity shares, while a positive broker comment on Goldman Sachs boosted the financial sector.

In this country, top stock Telecom was down 3c to 267, having lost 10c yesterday after gaining 10c on Wednesday.

Fletcher Building was up 5c early to 655, on top of a 9c gain yesterday, while Contact Energy added 1c to 563.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 3.399 points, or 0.124 per cent, at 2738.282. There were 34 rises and 34 falls among the 100 stocks traded.

Turnover was worth just $55.8 million of which $15.5m was in Telecom shares and $3m in Fletcher Building.

SkyCity eased 3c to 265 and as the market closed the company advised that it had bought back $84.5m of debt it had in the US private placement market.

Michael Hill fell 1c to 63, Hallenstein Glassons fell 4c to 256 and The Warehouse was down 3c to 370.

Auckland Airport declined fell 1c to 153.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 2c to 285 and Pike River Coal rose 1c to 113.

NZX rose 14c to 715. Tourism Holdings rose 2c to 47 and Cavalier rose 5c to 185. Rakon rose 3c to 148.

ING Property rose 2c to 66 and Goodman Property fell 1c to 91.

Port of Tauranga rose 5c to 610 as NZL Group continued to push for rights to set up business at the port's Sulphur Point container terminal.

In the US, trading was choppy in light volumes for most of the day as investors remained cautious ahead of more corporate earnings reports in the coming weeks.

Alcoa set a positive tone when it began the earnings season with a smaller-than-expected loss after the bell on Wednesday (local time).

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.1 per cent to 8183.17, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.4 per cent to 882.68, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.3 per cent to 1752.55.

- NZPA