Sharemarket ends day mixed

The New Zealand sharemarket finished somewhat recovered from an early tumble after stocks in the United States fell for a third straight day.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 10.031 points, or 0.325 per cent, at 3074.649, having fallen as low as 3051.997 today.

Investors in the US were spooked by uncertainty over the health of financial companies, along with concerns that the explosive rally since March may have run ahead of economic reality.

Stephen Wright at ASB Securities said the New Zealand market again performed relatively well compared with other countries.

Asian markets, apart from Shanghai, were weak during the New Zealand time zone.

Turnover was worth $85.93 million. There were 15 rises and 75 falls among the 122 stocks traded.

Mr Wright said on down days the turnover was not massive.

"There is no panic selling. People just tend to do nothing," he said.

A strong Fonterra milk auction and strong Australian growth data were positive factors today.

Telecom, which goes ex dividend soon, rose 4c to 273 and SkyCity rose 10c to 331. Fisher and Paykel Healthcare rose 5c to 338. Port of Tauranga rose 5c to 656. SkyTV rose 7c to 450 and Sanford rose 2c to 512.

The list of decliners was somewhat longer with Fletcher Building down 16c to 758, Fisher and Paykel Appliances down 4c to 74 and Tower down 3c to 169.

Freightways fell 6c to 291 even though it announced it Australia Post has become a customer. Mainfreight fell 10c to 495.

Tower fell 3c to 169, Hellaby fell 5c to 135 and Nuplex fell 10c to 230. The Warehouse fell 8c to 392.

NZ Farming Systems Uruguay rose 5c to 46 after saying Singapore based Olam International has bought a 14.35 per cent stake from existing shareholders.

PGG Wrightson fell 3c to 70 and Pyne Gould Corp fell 7c to 129.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 2 per cent at 9310.60, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 2.2 per cent to 998.04, and the Nasdaq Composite Index slid 2 per cent to 1968.89.

- NZPA