NZ stocks: Market slides for most of day

The sharemarket was on a slide for most of the day as investors indulged in a little profit-taking after recent market gains, a broker said.

At 4.30pm, the benchmark NZSX50 gross index was down 16.94 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 2167.96, while the NZSX40 capital index was down 13.82 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 2108.89.

Forsyth Barr broker David Price said falls in the NZSX50 and NZSX40 were nothing to be worried about.

"It's just people taking a little bit of money off the market after a strong performance overall for the market," Mr Price said.

Wall St was going through the same trend, he said.

"The market (NZX) has performed pretty well of late. There was relatively good volume today," Mr Price told NZPA.

At market's close today, there had been $74.7 million worth of shares moved on volume of 27 million. Among the 140 stocks traded were 25 rises and 64 falls.

A number of stocks had buttoned off slightly today as shareholders put their portfolios on the market, Mr Price said. Among them were Fisher & Paykel and The Warehouse.

F&P Appliances finished the day down 20c at 1285, after hitting a high of 1345 last Tuesday.

The Warehouse was down 11c at 515 at 4.30pm, after rising to 530 on Friday.

Market leader Telecom lost 6c to 517, having traded $23.6 million of shares on volume of 4.6 million.

Among the other stocks which fell today were: AMP down 9c to 576, Auckland International Airport dipped 5c to 592, Briscoe shed 4c to 196, F&P Healthcare retreated 3c to 1152, INL slid 5c to 417, and Sanford dropped 14c to 500.

On the rise: GRD MacRaes up 10c to 130, Lion Nathan up 5c to 630, NZX rights up 5c to 250, and TrustPower up 5c to 450.

- NZPA