KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's share index fell 0.3 per cent yesterday, 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," he said.
Top stock Telecom fell 3c to $4.85, while second-ranked Fletcher Building fared worse, losing 11c, or nearly 1 per cent, to $11.49.
Among other top 10 stocks, Contact Energy was flat at $9.04, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was steady at $3.60, F&P Appliances fell 3c to $3.59, and Sky Television rose 10c to $6.25.
Flagship carrier Air New Zealand rose 5c to a 3 1/2-year high of $2.50, after the airline released figures showing its aircraft 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 so far this year - were above expectations.
The Warehouse fell 12c to $7.13, Sanford lost 2c to $4.78 after warning this week that lower sales and the strong exchange rate were hurting profitability, and Mainfreight was down 6c at $7.44.
Rakon jumped 12c to $4.76, Freightways rose 5c to $4.24, and Michael Hill was up 1c at $9.52.
Guinness Peat Group was up 2c at $2.30 after booking a profit of about A$172 million ($193 million) from the sale of its 19.4 per cent stake in funds manager Australian Wealth Management, which was spun off from insurance group Tower in early 2005. Tower was down 2c at $2.26.
Mining company Summit Resources fell 20c to $6.15 on turnover valued at $5 million, after the company 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.
The kiwi dollar sharply backed off Wednesday's post-float high as equity market jitters resurfaced. Trading was volatile and jumpy as traders watched the Japanese and Hong Kong sharemarkets drop 2 per cent.
The kiwi nearly revisited its US74.93c high touched on Wednesday but ended well down on US74.02c.
Said ANZ chief dealer Murray Hindley: "We've seen a good old correction."
- NZPA