KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's share index fell 0.3 per cent today, as stocks trickled lower across the board.
With a softer Telecom, the benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 12.92 points at 4180.64 on turnover valued at $114 million.
Don Lewthwaite of First NZ Capital said the New Zealand sharemarket held steady for the early part of the session before easing during the afternoon.
"Fairly slow, turnover's not too bad but pretty unremarkable."
Top stock Telecom fell 3c to 485, while second-ranked Fletcher Building fared worse, losing 11c or nearly 1 per cent to 1149.
Among other top-10 stocks, Contact Energy was flat at 904, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was steady at 360, F&P Appliances fell 3c to 359, and Sky Television rose 10c to 625.
Flagship carrier Air New Zealand rose 5c to a 3-1/2 year high of 250, after the airline released figures showing its planes flew fuller last month. Air NZ's load factor, or proportion of seats filled, rose seven percentage points in March.
The airline said traffic and yields -- up 10.1 per cent year-to-date -- were above expectations.
The Warehouse fell 12c to 713, Sanford lost 2c to 478 after warning earlier this week that lower sales and the strong exchange rate were hurting profitability, and Mainfreight was down 6c at 744.
Rakon jumped 12c to 476, Freightways rose 5c to 424, and Michael Hill was up a cent at 952.
Guinness Peat Group was up 2c at 230 after booking a profit of about A$172 million ($195 million) from the sale of its 19.4 per cent stake in funds manager Australian Wealth Management (AWM).
AWM was spun off from insurance group Tower in early 2005.
"They've still got Tower, so that was a little bit of a smaller consideration. They're probably more focused on Tower and Tower Australia," Mr Lewthwaite said.
Tower was down 2c at 226.
Mining company Summit Resources fell 20c to 615 on turnover valued at $5 million, after the company earlier this week recommended shareholders accept a sweetened A$1.18 billion all-share takeover offer by Paladin Resources, citing concern over the future of uranium mining in Australia.
"It suggests that some people prefer to take the cash rather than accept the scrip offer," Mr Lewthwaite said.
- NZPA