KEY POINTS:
New Zealand shares turned negative today, but managed to avoid heavier falls seen offshore after Wall Street was sold off.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 23.5 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 3295.68, having gained 16 points yesterday. Turnover totalled $99.3 million.
"It would appear that a lot of the international markets had a pretty harrowing night, and resources in particular were very heavily sold off in New York," said James Porteous of ABN Amro Craigs.
"We haven't got the resources exposure, so that wouldn't drag our index down as much."
The market took some heart from Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard's comments that interest rate cuts were still possible despite high inflation. Falling interest rates would push the New Zealand dollar lower, a positive for the much of the economy.
Ahead of its result on Friday, Telecom eased 9c to 367, having gained ground since mid-July when it was down to 325.
Contact Energy lost 9c to 836, Fletcher Building was up 7c at 635, Fisher & Paykel Appliances was up 4c at 198, and F&P Healthcare lost 8c to 278.
Auckland Airport fell 4c to 192, Sky City was up 2c at 349, and Infratil rose 2c to 219.
Pike River Coal was down 8c at 197, despite announcing yesterday it had completed tunnelling through the Hawera Fault, which was a major hurdle at its new mine on the West Coast.
Its parent, NZ Oil and Gas, also fell 8c, to 157.
The Warehouse was down 2c at 340, after last week's Court of Appeal ruling saw off the prospect of a takeover from supermarket operators Foodstuffs and Woolworths.
PGG Wrightson fell 5c to 272, Pumpkin Patch was down 4c at 145, Freightways lost 6c to 309, and ING Medical Properties was down 4c at 112.
Retailer Briscoe Group was down 5c at 98 after yesterday's report that second quarter sales were down 2.3 per cent, although July sales were higher than expected. First half net profit was likely to hit the top end of the $2m to $3m range previously forecast.
Air New Zealand rose a cent to 125, Guinness Peat Group was up a cent at 143, NZ Refining rose 5c to 680, Port of Tauranga gained 5c to 655, and Ebos was up 8c at 460.
Among dual-listed stocks, AMP fell 10c to 790, ANZ was up 66c at 2180, Westpac rose 15c to 2700, and Lion Nathan was down 15c at 1117.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 1.2 per cent at 4828, and Japan's Nikkei share average was flat.
Earlier in the US, stocks fell as shares of energy and commodity-related companies tumbled on falling oil and metals prices, and investors worried the housing slump could fuel further losses at financial companies.
- NZPA
