KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket slipped to a new three-year lo w today, albeit on light volumes as investors stayed away.
Having lost 0.6, 1 and 2 per cent in successive sessions, the NZSX-50 benchmark fell another 11.8 points or 0.37 per cent to 3163.38 on turnover worth $73 million.
Volumes were "exceedingly" light, resulting in some sharp share price movements, JB Were Goldman Sachs broker Peter Sigley said.
Top stock Telecom slipped to a new 15-year low of 339, down 6c, ignoring a positive lead from Wall St this morning.
Mr Sigley said Contact was a good example of trading levels which were "not indicative of fundamentals".
It fell 25c to 788, as extra rain took the edge off otherwise high wholesale spot power prices although brokers said there was some concern about lake levels around Lake Hawea.
In contrast Trustpower was up 16c to 768 possibly because rain had fallen in useful areas.
Fletcher Building rebounded 5c to 632, possibly on a more positive revision of US construction data.
Offsetting this was Australian data out today which had building approvals for May down more than 6 per cent.
Other stocks on the rise were Mainfreight up 5c to 635, Auckland Airport up a cent to 195, Hallenstein Glasson up 8c to 261, Rakon up 8c to 288, Pike River up 5c to 240, Pumpkin Patch up 3c to 143 and Air NZ up 3c to 111.
Banking stocks ANZ and Westpac also enjoyed a bounce as attention turned to defensive stocks, up 60c to 2324 and 20c to 2450 respectively.
On the downward slope was Ebos, down 11c to 424, and New Zealand Oil and Gas, down 5c to 181 after earlier touching a record high of 190.
PGG Wrightson was up 3c to 257 despite analysts expressing scepticism about the expected $100m savings to be made from its purchase of Silver Fern Meats.
In the US, stocks ended in positive territory following volatile trading that saw share prices fall and recover as worries about soaring oil prices and the US economy persisted.
Traders said General Motors' better than expected monthly sales for June helped give stocks a boost even though the auto giant reported a hefty sales decline.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 32.25 points or 0.28 per cent at 11,382.26 following volatile swings, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite ended up 11.99 points or 0.52 per cent at 2304.97.
The Standard & Poor's 500 broad-market index gained 4.91 points or 0.38 per cent to close at 1284.91.
- NZPA