KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket continued yesterday's downtrend today in early trading as the New Zealand dollar's record run raised questions about company export earnings.
The benchmark NZSX-50 was down 8.33 points in the first 20 minutes to 4292.23. Falls outnumbered rises by 21 to 20 among the 75 traded and turnover was worth $39 million.
Market leader Telecom, soon to announce a replacement for departing CEO Theresa Gattung, led the market down with a 4c fall to 459.
Takeover target Tourism Holdings fell 12c to 260 after bidder MFS Life & Leisure said it would not lift its $2.80 a share bid nor extend the July 21 bid deadline. Queensland based MFS listed on the NZX today.
TrustPower was unchanged on 845. It was today granted planning consent on its Wairau hydro scheme.
Air NZ was down 3c to 292. Broker Forsyth Barr said the airline could pay $1.32 a share, or 44c per annum, in dividends over the next three years. However, UBS said the airline's recent share rise had caused it to downgrade its recommendation from "buy" to "neutral".
Others in the top 50 to fall were: Sky City, 4c to 501, Freightways, 6c to 401, Hallenstein Glasson, 5c to 470 and Pumpkin Patch, 3c to 355.
NZ Experience was up 1c to 32 after upgrading its profit forecast.
Vending Group fell sharply, down 7c to 75c.
ANZ bank jumped 84c to 3350.
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In the US, Wall Street swung higher today as a robust report on factory activity helped the market shrug off worries about the financial sector's exposure to losses from mortgage-backed securities.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average held a gain of 57.39 points (0.43 per cent) at 13,546.81 and the tech-dominated Nasdaq climbed 17.00 points (0.65 per cent) to 2,616.96.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 9.34 points (0.62 per cent) to a preliminary close of 1,522.18.
- NZPA