7 Dec 2009

NZ market lower at close

9:25 pm on 7 December 2009

The New Zealand share market fell 8 points, or 0.25%, to 3138 on turnover of $66 million on Monday.

Fletcher Building was down 13 cents at $7.68 per share, Telecom slid 5c to $2.36, while Contact Energy was unchanged at $5.85.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare gained 12c to $3.41.

Sky City Entertainment was unchanged at $3.35, while Sky Network Television was up 9c to $4.77.

NZX rose 41c to $8.31 after saying it will undergo a share split, quadrupling the number of shares issued to 123 million.

Retailers Pumpkin Patch was up 5c to $1.98, while the The Warehouse gained 3c to $4.15.

In Australia, the All Ordinaries ended 0.6% lower at 4,695, while the ASX 200 also lost 26 points to 4,677, the ABC website reports.

Japan's benchmark index hit a six-week high on Monday as the US dollar's gains against the yen made Japanese exports more attractive in the world's largest market for consumer goods. The Nikkei finished 1.5% higher at 10,168.

The Topix index of all the Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section issues rose 9.35 points, or 1.05%, to 898.93.