KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket gave up its early gains today made on the back of Wall Street's strength, despite a positive session for top stock Telecom.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index, which slid 0.78 per cent yesterday, fell a further 9 points to 4193.67, on slim turnover of $64.6 million. Rises outnumbered falls 57 to 54.
Stephen Wright of ASB Securities said high interest rates, uncertainty over the currency after Reserve Bank intervention on Monday, and a lack of corporate news were keeping investors to the sidelines.
"People are still bemused by the exchange rate, after some scepticism on Monday and Tuesday that Dr Bollard's intervention mightn't work. Three days later, the dollar's still more or less where it was then," Mr Wright said.
The market was still holding up well at current levels, but without hard news or merger and acquisition activity momentum had stalled, he said.
Telecom, which looks set to appoint an outsider as its new chief executive, was up 3c to 462. However, other blue chips gave up ground made early in the day, with Fletcher Building closing down 5c at 1270 and Contact Energy down 6c at 877.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare finished in the black, up a cent at 350, while F&P Appliances was down 4c at 365.
Recent market heroes were mixed, with Rakon up 10c at 525, Ryman Healthcare down 6c at 233, Pumpkin Patch a cent higher at 371 and Port of Tauranga off a cent at 689.
Sky City lost 4c to 488, Sky TV was flat at 555, and Auckland Airport was up 5c at 274.
Air New Zealand jumped 9c to 302, having fallen foul of profit-takers in recent sessions.
The Warehouse shed 6c to 597, while financial services stock Tower continued to inch higher, closing up 3c at 250.
Freightways fell 14c to 421, and fellow freight stock Mainfreight gained 5c to 745.
Dual-listed stocks were mixed, with Westpac down 24c at 2826, ANZ unchanged at 3230, AMP up 5c at 1130, and Lion Nathan 2c lower at 999.
- NZPA