Market close: Shares close lower

Friday 5th September 2008

The sharemarket fell slightly today with the NZSE50 down -0.35% to end the day at 3,336.

Top stock Telecom rose 1.0% after deferring its dividend reinvestment plan while it considers whether to accelerate investments on faster broadband services.

Second-ranked Contact Energy was slightly up by 0.1%, while the third best stock Fletcher Building gave back 0.7%.

In the retail sector Hallenstein Glasson was up 0.3%, but Pumpkin Patch lost 1.9%, Michel Hill declined 6.7%, and The Warehouse Group lost 2.7%.

Today's gainers included Plus SMS Holdings up 52.63%, BLIS Technologies up 17.65%, ProvencoCadmus up 5.56%.

Other major losers included Finzsoft Solutions down 15%, APN News & Media 8.4%, Freightways 2.9%, ING Property Trust 2.6%, and Pike River Coal 3.7%.

Banks were also down today, ANZ dropping 3.4% and Westpac lost 2.8%.

Briscoe Group, owner of the homeware Living & Giving, Urban Loft and Rebel sports outlets, remained unchanged today after it reported a 71% slump in first-half profit as retailers cut prices to woo consumers, eroding their margins.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed 2.06%, or 102.4 points, lower at 4877.1.

On Wednesday, the Dow and the broader S&P 500 indexes tumbled 3.0% each and the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 3.2%.

NZ Top 50	3,336.178	-11.963 (-0.36%)
ASX 200	4,877.100	-102.400 (-2.06%)
Dow	11,188.23	-344.65 (-2.99%)
Nasdaq	2,259.04	-74.69 (-3.20%)
FTSE 100	5,362.10	-137.60 (-2.50%)

AIA	2.02	-0.01
AIR	1.14	-0.02
AMP	8.70	0.00
ANZ	19.90	-0.70
APN	3.94	-0.36
APT	1.05	+0.01
CAV	3.00	0.00
CEN	8.36	+0.01
EBO	4.95	+0.07
FBU	7.55	-0.05
FPA	1.80	-0.02
FPH	3.24	0.00
FRE	3.40	-0.10
GFF	1.77	-0.03
GMT	1.12	+0.01
GPG	1.37	-0.01
HLG	3.00	+0.01
IFT	2.23	-0.03
IMP	1.10	-0.01
ING	0.75	-0.02
KIP	1.13	+0.01
LNN	10.58	-0.12
MFT	7.00	-0.05
MHI	0.84	-0.06
MVN	1.65	0.00
NPX	6.26	-0.14
NZO	1.51	-0.01
NZR	7.14	-0.24
NZS	1.60	+0.09
NZX	6.92	-0.05
PFI	1.13	0.00
PGW	2.72	0.00
POT	7.00	+0.05
PPL	1.55	-0.03
PRC	1.85	-0.07
RAK	2.88	-0.02
RYM	1.70	+0.02
SAN	6.20	+0.10
SKC	3.77	+0.06
SKL	1.00	-0.01
SKT	4.81	-0.02
STU	3.75	-0.05
TEL	3.15	+0.03
THL	1.36	-0.04
TLS	5.22	-0.15
TPW	7.90	-0.10
TWR	2.10	-0.02
VCT	2.25	-0.01
WBC	28.54	-0.81
WHS	3.22	-0.09

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