6 May 2010

NZ market lower at close

8:56 pm on 6 May 2010

The New Zealand share market shed 30 points, or 0.9%, to 3217 on turnover of $76 million on Thursday.

Fletcher Building was down 14 cents to $8.26 per share, Telecom fell 4c to $2.15, while Contact Energy was 6c lower at $6.21.

Air New Zealand was down 1c to $1.29 and Auckland International Airport was also 1c lower at $1.99.

Sky Network Television fell 9c to $4.93 and Sky City Entertainment was down 7c to $3.08.

PGG Wrightson was down 2c to 53c, NZ Oil and Gas fell 5c to $1.51 and New Zealand Refinery was 7c lower at $3.65.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 2c to $3.57, and Fisher & Paykel Appliances was 1c lower at 66c.

Retailer Pumpkin Patch fell 7c to $2.13, while The Warehouse was down 5c to $3.70.

A dramatic fall in the rate of unemployment pushed up the New Zealand dollar. The Kiwi gained 1c against the US dollar after it emerged that unemployment fell in the first three months of this year from 7.1% to 6%

At 5.20pm on Thursday, the dollar was buying 72.70 US cents, 80.35 Australian cents, 48.12 pence, 68.30 yen and 0.5670 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 68.84.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia fell sharply again on Thursday, amid mounting concern that economic problems in Greece could spread to other European countries.

Tokyo's Nikkei index fell 3.3% at close of trade and Hong Kong was down 1.3%.

The European Central Bank is due to hold a key meeting in Lisbon in the next day.