Friday May 9, 09:27 AM
New Zealand shares close lower on weak economic outlook
WELLINGTON (Thomson Financial) - New Zealand shares closed lower on Friday as investors focused on the weakening domestic
economy.
The NZX-50 gross index fell 24.43 points or 0.7 percent to 3,601.17 on light turnover worth NZ$79.3 million ($61.2 million).
Stephen Wright of ASB Securities said there was a 'lack of conviction' among investors to buy.
'Yesterday we were fired up with the prospect of interest rate (cuts), but today all we've got is a poor result from The Warehouse (WHS.NZ - news) which, following on from Briscoes the other day, just hammers home again how weak our economy possibly is.'
Thursday's news of 29,000 jobs lost in the March quarter, the highest quarterly loss since 1989, increased expectations for a rate cut by September instead of the end of this year or early 2009 as earlier predicted.
Discount retailer The Warehouse fell 15 cents to NZ$5.35 after it became the second major retailer this week to announce weak sales.
The Warehouse's third-quarter sales were down 4.3 percent from a year earlier at NZ$394.6 million.
Market leader Telecom closed 14 cents lower at NZ$3.83, down from an intra-day high of NZ$3.95.
Fletcher Building (FBU.NZ - news) fell 19 cents to NZ$8.29, Contact Energy (CEN.NZ - news) was down 1 cent at NZ$9.02, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare lost 2 cents to NZ$2.58 and Fisher & Paykel Appliances was down 4 cents at NZ$2.61.
Sky City was down 4 cents at NZ$3.93, Auckland Airport was flat at NZ$2.20, Air New Zealand (AIR.NZ - news) was down 3 cents at NZ$1.17 and Mainfreight fell 5 cents to NZ$6.70.
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