KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket shrugged off Wall Street's late gains today, with the top-50 taking a negative turn on light volume.
Despite US stock indexes closing 1 per cent higher at the end of a volatile session, the benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 0.3 per cent, or 12.3 points, at 3899.9.
Turnover totalled $84.9 million.
The top-50 hit a year-low of 3883.8 yesterday, before recovering to close higher.
Contact Energy held onto its early gains, rising 11c to 827, although Fletcher Building weakened, closing down 1c at 1082.
Fletcher's fall in share price is thought to be a result of global growth sentiment, rather than anything to do with the company which has plenty of work lined up.
Top stock Telecom was down a cent at 426.
Elsewhere on the top-10, casino operator Sky City was flat at 426, Sky TV fell 10c to 562, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 3c to 343, and F&P Appliances lost 3c to 322. Auckland Airport was up 4c at 275, and Vector was up 3c at 220.
"For most of the day it was adrift in line with Japan, Australia etc. There was no help from a better US market - I guess people are just afraid of further volatility and talk of recession which seems to be prevalent at the moment," said Stephen Wright of ASB Securities.
The Warehouse was up 5c at 562, Tower rose 3c to 225, Kiwi Income Property Trust was up 2c at 132, Freightways gained 3c to 365, Rakon rose 3c to 373, and Steel and Tube were up 2c at 373.
Yesterday's news that Selwyn Cushing would be its new chairman boosted Skellerup shares, which closed up 4c, or 4 per cent, at 94c.
Other stocks fell, with Mainfreight down 9c at 622, Air New Zealand 2c lower at 180, Trustpower down 5c at 822, NZX down 19c at 876, PGG Wrightson off 4c at 219, and Nuplex down 20c at 670.
Despite increasing revenue and activity, NZ Oil and Gas was down a cent at 113.
"Overseas volatility, the high dollar, high interest rates, all these things continue to take their toll on our market, and (there is) lower market turnover because a lot of market participants are still away," Mr Wright said.
Dual-listed stocks were lower, with ANZ down 110 at 2990, Westpac down 100 at 3050, AMP down 25c at 1050, Goodman down 9c at 201, and APN News off 17c at 608.
- NZPA