The New Zealand sharemarket fell today along with markets in Asia after investors took profits in the US when fraud charges were laid against Goldman Sachs and earnings reports disappointed.The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 29.111 points, or 0.9%, at
The New Zealand sharemarket fell today along with markets in Asia after investors took profits in the US when fraud charges were laid against Goldman Sachs and earnings reports disappointed.
The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 29.111 points, or 0.9%, at 3282.198. It reached a 19-month intraday high around 3349 points on Thursday.
Turnover was worth $73.9 million. There were 21 rises and 62 falls among the 120 stocks traded.
"Global markets fell on the Goldman Sachs story and that's really been the primary driver. The market has been looking for an excuse to sell off and this has been a pretty good one," said James Lee, head of wholesale equities at First NZ Capital.
Fletcher Building shares, which reached a six-month high $8.56 last Thursday, fell 7c to $8.42, while Telecom fell 1c to $2.17 and Contact Energy fell 2c to $6.36.
"Telecom continues to ebb and flow around the $215-2.22 mark," Mr Lee said.
Air NZ fell 4c to $1.37 on a day in which Qantas said disruption on European routes from the volcanic ash cloud was costing it $A1.5 million a day.
Mr Lee said the bulk of Air NZ's business was domestic and it had fewer planes affected.
"We would expect Air NZ to be a fraction of that," he said.
Tourism Holdings fell 3c to 94c. Infratil, which owns two airports in the UK, fell 1c to $1.76.
Nuplex fell 14c to $3.12. Mr Lee estimated the company has lost $80 million in market capitalisation since the Securities Commission said it was filing civil proceedings for non-compliance with continuous disclosure requirements.
The company is vigorously defending the charges.
Listed industrial property investor Property for Industry was unchanged at $1.16 after reporting first quarter rentals were 3.2% higher than a year earlier.
NZOG fell 5c to $1.51 on confirmation the Hoki-1 exploration well found nothing. OceanaGold fell 11c to $3.49.
SkyTV fell 7c to $5.04. Tower fell 3c to $2.00 and SkyCity fell 5c to $3.20.
Michael Hill rose 1c to 74c, Mainfreight rose 1c to $6.53 and Cavalier rose 1c to $2.73.
