KEY POINTS:
Shares in appliance maker Fisher & Paykel Appliances have bounced back this morning amid speculation the Government could step in and help the company if necessary.
Fisher & Paykel said yesterday it was looking for a cornerstone investor and said it expected its net profit to fall by as much as 54 per cent to between $25 million and $30 million.
Shares in the iconic company shed up to 42 per cent and reached a record low price of 58 cents before ending yesterday at 65c.
Prime Minister John Key said it would be unacceptable for an important company such as Fisher and Paykel Appliances to fail because of a temporary crisis.
This morning investors were snapping up the stock and it gained 6c to 71 in the first few minutes of stock exchange trading today.
However, it was only one of a handful of rises and could not lift the benchmark NZX-50 index, which continued to fall after it closed yesterday at 2680.186.
It was down a further 2.659 points, or 0.099 per cent, to 2677.527 at 10.20am.
At least a dozen stocks headed south, led by Tower, which lost 5c to $1.45.
Methven lost 4c to $1.18, Guinness Peat Group lost 2c to 81 and Michael Hill was down 1c to 50.
Ryman Healthcare lost 2c to $1.26 and AMP lost 1c to 64.
Highly regarded courier company Freightways cut its interim dividend. Yesterday it fell 17c to $2.95 and this morning it lost another 2c to $2.93.
Positive movers were Westpac, up 58c, or 2.76 per cent, to $21.60 and Air New Zealand, up 1c to 91. Nuplex Industries was also up 2c to $2.24.
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US markets have been closed overnight for the President's Day public holiday.
On Friday, stocks ended lower, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average to its lowest close since last November and leaving it with a weekly decline of 5.2 per cent.
The Dow fell 82.35, or 1.04 per cent, to 7,850.41.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 8.35, or one per cent, to 826.84, and the Nasdaq composite index decreased 7.35, or 0.48 per cent, to 1,534.36.
European stock exchanges wilted on Monday in sluggish trade as investors showed hesitancy while waiting for Wall Street to re-open on Tuesday after a long weekend.
In London, the FTSE 100 index shed 54.84 points, or 1.31 per cent, to close at 4,134.75.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index fell 29.23 points to end at 7,750.17.
The Australian share market ended just over one per cent weaker yesterday following general weakness across the board and losses on Wall Street.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 42.2 points, or 1.19 per cent, at 3,516.9, while the broader All Ordinaries index dropped 35.4 points, or 1.01 per cent, to 3,461.3.
- NZPA
