KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's benchmark share index gave up yesterday's gains after a 2 percent tumble for top stock Telecom.
The NZSX-50 index fell 38.53 points, or 0.9 percent, to 4163.11. Turnover was light with just 28.49 million shares worth $92.76 million changing hands. Falls outnumbered rises 79 to 36 among the 155 stocks traded.
"All in all, quite a negative tone to the market today and a real lack of buying in a lot of these stocks, as investors struggle to find any real value in this market place," said Hamilton Hindin Greene partner Grant Williamson.
Subduing activity was tomorrow's Anzac Day holiday in Australia and New Zealand, and a possible interest rate rise from the Reserve Bank on Thursday.
Telecom lost 12c to 484, having traded between 393 and 576 in the last year.
"There was a fair amount of foreign buying in the stock yesterday, but there's been no sign of that today and the sellers are now back in control of the stock," Mr Williamson said.
"We had the shareholders of PowerTel agree to a takeover (yesterday) but that was pretty much expected."
Fletcher Building rose 11c to 1151, and Contact Energy lost 11c to 902. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 8c at 354, F&P Appliances also fell 8c, to 352, and Sky TV was down 13c at 597.
First NZ Capital downgraded F&P Appliances to underperform from neutral, citing poor sales in the United States. The broking firm also lowered its forecast for annual net profit by 8.4 percent to $59.3 million.
Recent high flyer Air New Zealand fell 5c to 267. Having languished for years, the stock has risen 34 percent in just over a month thanks to cheaper fuel and the airline's improved performance.
Exchange operator NZX fell 23c to 970, Infratil was down 3c at 587, TrustPower fell 5c to 820, and Tower lost 3c to 225.
A surprisingly small rise in inflation in Australia hammered the Australian dollar as investors' hopes of a further interest rate rise faded. That helped push up the New Zealand dollar against the Aussie, hurting exporters such as carpet maker Cavalier, which shed 10c to a nearly one-year low of 320.
Dual-listed stocks were mixed, with Lion Nathan up 14c to 1015, AMP down 4c to 1211, Westpac falling 15c to 3020, and ANZ down 8c to 3457 ahead of its half-year result on Thursday.
- NZPA