19 Apr 2010

Local market down 29 points

5:45 pm on 19 April 2010

The New Zealand share market closed lower on Monday, with the benchmark NZX50 index down 29 points, or 0.9%, to 3282 on turnover of $26 million.

Air New Zealand was down 4 cents to $1.37 as volcanic ash continues to disrupt air travel in Europe. Auckland International Airport was down 1c to $2.

Fletcher Building was down 7c to $8.42, Telecom was down 1c to $2.17 and Contact Energy was down 2c to $6.36.

Nuplex was down 14c to $3.12 after the Securities Commission took legal action against it last week, alleging a breach of continuous disclose rules.

New Zealand Oil & Gas was down 5c to $1.51 after drilling showed its Hoki well is dry

Sky City Entertainment was down 5c to $3.20, Sky Network Television was down 7c to $5.04 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 3c to $3.41. The Warehouse was down 2c to $3.81. Freightways was unchanged at $3.15.

The dollar was trading at 70.85 US cents, 77.07 Australian cents, 46.44 pence, 65.27 yen and 0.5263 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was 65.75.

Across the Tasman, the ASX 200 index was down 68 points, or 1.4%, to 4917.