17 Nov 2010

NZ and Australian markets down

1:22 pm on 17 November 2010

The New Zealand sharemarket on Wednesday followed the lead of overseas markets downwards.

At 12.36pm, the NZX50 index was down 29 points, or 0.9%, to 32 87 on turnover of $32 million.

Fletcher Building was down 2 cents to $7.92, Telecom was down 10c to $2.10 after suspending its dividend re-investment plan and buyback scheme under to the uncertainty surrounding the ultra fast broadband programme.

Contact Energy was down 3 cents at $5.92. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 3c to $3.03 and Fisher & Paykel Appliances down 2c to 58c.

Sky City Entertainment Group was down 3c at $3.16 and AMP was down 16c at $6.60.

Infratil was down 2c to $1.87 after reporting a half year profit of $16 million.

The Warehouse was down 3c to $3.85, Kathmandu was down 8c to $1.55 and Hallenstein Glasson was down 5c to $4.45.

Abano Healthcare was down 16c to $5.00 and Xero was up 8c to $2.04.

Seeka Kiwifruit was up 5c to $2.20 after the kiwifruit packer said PSA- infected orchards contribute about 8% of all the gold kiwifruit it handles, and 2% of its total kiwifruit supply.

Mainfreight was up 4c to $7.40.

Across the Tasman, the Australian 200 index was down 69 points, or 1.5%, to 4631.

The New Zealand dollar was trading at 76.74 US cents, 78.62 Australian cents, 48.28 pence, 63.92 yen and 0.5687 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 69.08.