MARKET CLOSE: Shares fall, led by MRP, Contact; Spark declines

New Zealand shares fell, led by MightyRiverPower, Contact Energy and Spark NZ, as investors pondered the prospects of the Reserve Bank keeping interest rates unchanged this week, rather than cutting rates.

The NZX 50 Index fell 23.704 points, or 0.4%, to 5862.106. Within the index, 24 stocks fell, 20 rose and six were unchanged. Turnover was $116 million.

MightyRiverPower, the government-controlled energy generator and retailer, dropped 3.9% to $2.73. Meridian Energy declined 1.3% to $2.22. Contact Energy fell 0.8% to $5.45.

"Investors are getting positions ahead of what could be a very interesting Thursday with the Reserve Bank due to make an announcement on the OCR," said James Smalley, director at Hamilton Hindin Greene. "It's a bit of a fifty-fifty call on whether they will cut or not. Obviously the impact of interest rates have a direct impact on the relative attractiveness of equities over fixed interest and things like that."

Spark fell 1% to $2.88. The telecommunications provider is looking to supplement its bread and butter landline income by focusing on data, cloud and content services. The arrival of ASX-listed M2 Group, the voice and data services company, in the local market, after it agreed to buy New Zealand's CallPlus, the country's third-biggest broadband and telecommunications services company, had seen investors sell Spark on concern it will be hurt by increased competition.

"It's almost like any given week the glass-half-empty crowd takes over," Mr Smalley said. "There are investors who are concerned about potential technological obsolescence and their ability to maintain their margins but then guys on the other side saying well they're one of a dominant, almost a duopoly, or oligopoly now that CallPlus got bought out."

Air New Zealand dropped 1.8% to $2.81. The national carrier will increase its ability to land passengers from New Zealand in the Indian capital, New Delhi, following the announcement of a new code sharing agreement with Air India.

Fletcher Building, the building supplies and construction firm, fell 1.4% to $8.38.

Coats Group, the thread maker, was the best performer on the day up 1.8% to 55.5 cents.

Outside the benchmark index, Wynyard Group last traded at $1.90 before it was put into a trading halt. The security software firm wants to raise $45 million in a discounted share offer to fund more staff and product development as it chases global growth.

On the New Zealand Alternative Index, TruScreen fell 3.8% to 25.5c. The cervical cancer screening system is looking to raise up to $1 million from investors in a share purchase plan after the cervical cancer screening system's private placement came up short on its upper target of $4 million.

(BusinessDesk)