The New Zealand sharemarket had some catching up with offshore markets to do today after returning from a long holiday weekend.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 22.463 points, or 0.699 per cent, at 3192.471, after opening down 20.92 points.
Turnover was worth $138.36 million with volume concentrated in the leaders. There were 20 rises and 71 falls among the 119 stocks traded.
"The leaders reflected weaker sentiment from overseas, and because we were closed yesterday we failed to reflect weaker markets yesterday also," said Stephen Wright at ASB Securities.
US stocks fell for a second straight session on Monday as investors worried how long economic support schemes would last.
In New Zealand, Fletcher Building fell 13c to 829, Contact Energy fell 4c to 624 and Telecom fell 1c to 249.
Sanford rose 4c to 480 and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare rose 5c to 299, which brokers attributed to the NZ dollar's retreat from its recent highs.
Port of Tauranga rose 3c to 708 on light volume after its annual meeting last week. Vector fell 5c to 196.
This week Auckland Airport, SkyCity, SkyTV, Lyttelton Port and Pyne Gould Corp hold annual meetings and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand reviews its official cash rate on Thursday.
Results from BNZ and ANZ National Bank will also provide insight into the general economic situation.
Pyne Gould was unchanged at 44 and the company today notified the allotment of shares from a six-for-one rights issue at 40c.
There has been speculation of selling pressure from new holders of such a large number of new shares.
"Normally if there is an overhang the share price would be lower," Mr Wright said. "If people have dumped shares it hasn't had any impact on the market," he said.
Retailer Hallenstein Glasson fell 6c to 304, Mainfreight dropped 22c to 538, SkyCity rose 4c to 343 and Rakon fell 3c 118.
Auckland Airport was down 2c to 198, and Sky TV down 8c to 472.
In the US trading was choppy. Stocks initially started on firmer footing, with indexes up more than 1 per cent shortly after the open, but the bounce quickly faded as the US dollar rebounded and investors fretted about the financial sector's prospects.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1.1 per cent to 9867.96, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 1.2 per cent to 1066.95, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.6 per cent to 2141.85.
- NZPA
NZ market has catching up to do
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