New Zealand's sharemarket was softer today as regulatory jitters unsettled investors .
"Certainly the market as a whole does not feel well supported and volatility and uncertainty continue to be the main theme," Goldman Sachs JB Were broker Jeremy Coe said, "and obviously the overhanging regulatory issues don't help in the slightest".
The benchmark NZX-50 index was down 22.9 points or 0.6 per cent to 3514.03 on total turnover of $106 million.
Power distribution company Vector fell 8c, touching a fresh low of 230 -- far from its listing price of $3.05 last August -- after the Commerce Commission threatened yesterday to impose price controls .
Yesterday the company lost 27c, curtailing a short-lived rally on signals from the Government that it wanted to ease power company pricing restrictions to encourage more investment.
Other stocks vulnerable to regulation included Trustpower and Contact, which initially slumped but ended up 10c to 710 and 3c to 713 respectively.
Trade was heavy in Auckland Airport which lost 5c to 198 on the back of possible regulation over its aeronautical prices.
Another heavily traded stock, Fletcher Building gained 4c to 855 after a positive annual profit result yesterday.
Brokers said talk that Telecom faced further regulation by the end of the month in the mobile phone market put a dampener on the stock, which fell 5c to 406 on $46 million worth of shares.
"People are starting to come to the realisation that there is going to be some real selling pressure on that stock should the regulator come through as expected," Mr Coe said.
Stocks with high exposure to foreign currency also felt the pinch today as the New Zealand currency jumped on strong jobs data.
Fisher and Paykel Appliances dropped 10c to 440, GPG down a cent to 259, and Sanford down 10c to 490.
Infratil, a Trustpower shareholder with high foreign exposure, fell 10c to 415.
Other moves included Mainfreight, down 10c to 585 on light volume; Ryman up 15c to 880; Sky TV down 14c to 556; and Tower down 7c to 333.
Mr Coe thought it was odd that Tower should fall, given its recently announced capital raising would be underwritten by shareholder GPG.
Tower announced on Tuesday that it would split its New Zealand and Australian units.
Safe haven banking stock ANZ climbed 60c to 3180.
"People are looking at the banks as a bit of a proxy to cash given that there is a reasonable amount of certainty surrounding their earnings," Mr Coe said.
Falls outweighed rises 76 to 27 on 138 stocks traded.
Offshore markets were also subdued.
Australia n shares fell 0.3 per cent in late trading as the country's second-biggest bank, Commonwealth Bank Ltd, extended losses, and soft drink company Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd fell on cutting earnings guidance.
On Wall St, stocks fell for a fourth straight session , driven by worries about slowing economic growth, higher oil prices and a stumbling housing market.
The Dow Jones industrial average slid 97.41 points, or 0.87 per cent, to end at 11,076.18.
- NZPA
<i>NZ stocks:</i> Regulatory jitters undermine market
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