NZ shares hit three-week low

The New Zealand sharemarket hit a three-week low today as few stocks were able to post gains in a generally quiet session.

Shares in investment company Guinness Peat Group fell 5c in early trading following the removal of New Zealand-based Tony Gibbs as an executive director after he publicly opposed plans to spin off the company's Australian assets.

However, GPG shares recovered a little and closed down 2c, or 2.9 per cent, at 66c.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 17.34 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 2991.07, following yesterday's nearly 26-point decline.

Top stocks were generally in the red, although Fletcher Building gained 3c to 798, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare also gained 3c, to 312, and Vector was up a cent at 218.

Telecom fell a cent to 189, Auckland Airport was down a cent at 188, Contact Energy fell 8c to 569, Sky City fell 4c to 286, and Sky TV lost 4c to 471.

Ebos Group fell 8c to 618, The Warehouse lost 7c to 341, a 14-month low, and seafood exporter Sanford was down 12c at 390, its lowest level since early 2008.

Restaurant Brands continued to outperform the market, rising a cent to 232, Trustpower rose 2c to 723 and Hallenstein Glasson lifted 5c to 365.

Freightway, whose chairman Wayne Boyd is stepping down, fell 2c to 280.

Genesis Research and Development fell 2c to 3 after news that the May Wang-fronted bidder for the Crafar dairy farms, UBNZ Funds Management, had taken a 19.9 per cent stake.

Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASx 200 Index was down 0.85 per cent at 4347. Japan's Nikkei was down more than 1 per cent, and MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan was also lower.

Earlier, in the United States, stocks ended slightly lower as gains in consumer-related stocks, including tobacco shares, were offset by losses in the energy sector.

Consumer shares rose after the government said personal spending rose moderately in May, exceeding expectations, after being flat in April.

- NZPA