KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket gave up gains it made on the Reserve Bank's surprise 50 basis point rate cut to end lower.
Around 10.10am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 41.84 points but by the close it was down 10.32 points, or 0.309 per cent, at 3333.543. There were 45 rises and 48 falls and turnover was worth $112.92 million.
Equities markets generally rally when interest rates are cut because dividends paid by companies become more attractive in comparison.
Brokers said the share market got the expected boost from the 50 basis point cut in the official cash rate to 7.5 per cent but markets elsewhere in Asia remained spooked by the global credit crisis.
And investors here also reflected that the rate cut was a symptom of the poor growth profile here.
"I think we've just been dragged down by the rest of Asia," Stephen Wright at ASB Securities said.
"The impact of the interest rate cut didn't last long," he said.
Top stock Telecom closed down 2c at 301, after falling below 300. Mr Wright said its profit and dividend outlook had not changed.
Fletcher Building was down 15c at 735, reversing an earlier gain.
Property trusts did benefit from the rate cut with ING Property up 1c at 78 and Kiwi Income up 2c at 116.
Exporters were also higher on the back of the plunge in the New Zealand dollar today.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 1c to 314 and Sanford was up 5c at 605. Cavalier was up 15c at 305.
Rakon was down 5c to 275 after the company told shareholders at the annual meeting that the lower dollar was countering the impact of weaker markets.
The Warehouse was up 1c at 321 ahead of its annual result tomorrow. Contact Energy was up 1c to 883.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.34 per cent at 11,268.92. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.61 per cent at 1232.04. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.85 per cent at 2228.70.
- NZPA