KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket lost ground at the end of a holiday-shortened week, with few factors to dictate direction.
The NZX-50 index closed down 3.28 points at 4184.70. The index high of 4216 was touched on February 7.
"It's relatively quiet but there's still a few stocks holding, and the others are just drifting a wee bit. There's nothing really driving it either way, apart from just supply and demand on the day," said Stephen Wright of ASB Securities.
Sky TV bucked the trend, closing up 20c at a six-week high of $5.76.
"In the end, if CanWest gets taken over and there's a shakeout in the media sector, then eventually there's just less companies for people to invest into and people always like media exposure, and you can have Sky Networks," Wright said.
CanWest MediaWorks was up 6c, or 2.6 per cent, at $2.35.
While the main index retreated after three days of gains, blue chip Contact Energy matched Wednesday's record high of $9.30, although it closed flat at $9.28.
Fletcher Building rose 14c to $11.49, approaching February's record of $11.60.
"Offsetting that are falls in previous good stocks that had been doing well for the past week, the likes of Auckland Airport," Wright said. Auckland Airport lost 7c to $2.41, and fellow star performer Air New Zealand eased 2c to $2.37.
Telecom was down 3c at $4.80 after the Government released a consultation document on the company's three-way split.
PGG Wrightson gained 2c to $1.63 after rising 9c on Wednesday. Optimism is high among dairy farmers due to high prices.
Michael Hill closed flat at $9.55 after jumping 25c on Wednesday after the announcement of plans to move into Britain or the United States when its Canadian jewellery stores turn a profit.
The Warehouse rose 10c to $6.99 and TrustPower put on 6c to $8.36.
- NZPA