KEY POINTS:
New Zealand shares fell 1 per cent as they took the hint from sharp losses in markets overnight, but they resisted the heavy declines in markets closer to home.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 31.78 points, or 1.2 per cent, at 2651.1, following a fall of just over 1 per cent yesterday. Turnover was a slim $54 million.
"It's all pretty muted and it's quite encouraging to see that we haven't had a wave of selling - buyers have pulled back in the major stocks which has led to our index falling, as you'd expect," said Bryon Burke of ABN AMRO Craigs.
A 3-per cent decline in leading stocks Contact Energy and Fletcher Building accounted for about half the overall fall in the index, he said.
New Zealand investors appeared to be keeping an eye on local news, with the Reserve Bank's announcement this week and a stream of poor economic data, Mr Burke said.
The Reserve Bank of Australia cut its official interest rate by one percentage point to 4.25 per cent this afternoon, slightly larger than expected. The RBNZ is expected to make a similar move on Thursday and cut its Official Cash Rate to around 5.50 per cent.
Contact Energy fell 20c to 650, and Fletcher Building lost 17c to 538.
Top stock Telecom was up a cent at 234. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down a cent at 308, F&P Appliances rose 5c to 140, Auckland Airport was down 8c at 164, Sky City was down 4c at 299, and Sky TV fell 8c to 322.
The Warehouse lost 23c, or 6.7 per cent, to 322 on low volume ahead of the Christmas season.
Fellow retailer Pumpkin Patch was down 2c at 111, and Hallenstein Glasson fell 6c to 219.
Exchange operator NZX fell 10c to 555 after a sharp fall in activity, with the total value traded on the NZX last month down 57 per cent at $1.45 billion.
NZ Oil and Gas was down 4c at 126, Tower lost 3c to 147, Air New Zealand was down 2c at 85, and Sanford fell 10c to 520.
On the up side, Guinness Peat Group gained 2c to 95, PGG Wrightson was up 3c at 160, and TrustPower rose 15c to 695 after its $100m bond offer closed fully subscribed.
Dual-listed Westpac was down 110 at 2010, ANZ fell 40c to 1710, AMP gained 20c to 640, and Lion Nathan rose 25c to 1050.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 3.3 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei share average lost nearly 5 per cent.
Stocks tumbled earlier on Wall Street as news pointing to a deepening global economic slump erased most of last week's sharp gains, with financial services companies and retailers among the biggest casualties.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 7.7 per cent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 8.9 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 8.95 per cent.
- NZPA
