KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket continued a gentle slide amid a lack of corporate news, despite slightly firmer offshore markets.
The mood was not helped by NZIER's Quarterly Survey of Business Confidence which showed confidence still low, although improved, and inflation pressures remaining strong.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 15 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 4280.24, on turnover valued at a respectable $125.6 million. Falls outnumbered rises by 58 to 50.
"Things were relatively quiet and mixed. Nothing for us to get a grip on, so we're just tending to drift," said Stephen Wright of ASB Securities.
Telecom fell 6c to 454, despite shareholders continuing to reinvest the $1.1 billion returned in a capital repayment.
Fletcher Building turned its back on recent weakness, and the market's direction, rising 10c to 1240.
Contact Energy was down 2c at 926, Fisher & Paykel Appliances rose 2c to 364, and F&P Healthcare was down 4c at 328.
Auckland Airport lost 4c to a three-week low of 305, having shed 35c in a month as the market awaits news of the pending takeover.
Fellow in-play stock Sky City was down 5c at 527, while Sky TV rose 5c to 575.
Air New Zealand continued to drift lower after it was ramped up ahead of the annual meeting a few weeks ago, losing 7c to 226. Qantas Airways said today it will boost its New Zealand domestic operations, reintroducing flights between Wellington and Christchurch and improving its service for business travellers.
Mainfreight was down 3c at 695, Freightways lost 10c to 370, Port of Tauranga fell 3c to 700, and Infratil was flat at 304.
Rakon was up 5c at 485, fish exporter Sanford fell 10c to 421, and Nuplex was up 5c at 754.
Abano Healthcare, which jumped 8 per cent following yesterday's profit upgrade, rose another 5c, or 1 per cent, to a seven-year high of 437. Abano has received approaches from parties other than Masthead, a 19.9 per cent shareholder seeking 51 per cent. Masthead indicated it would not raise its proposed offer of $3.85 per share.
Among dual-listed stocks, ANZ was up 20c at 3650, Westpac rose 32c to 3480, AMP lost 10c to 1240, and Goodman Fielder fell 2c to 276.
Australia's benchmark index was up 0.3 per cent at 6670.8, about 16 points below its earlier record high, and Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.6 per cent.
In the US, the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 indices dipped in light trading as investors locked in profits from Friday's record-setting rally and two brokers downgraded Merrill Lynch, citing its exposure to credit market turmoil.
- NZPA
