The New Zealand sharemarket headed lower today after stocks tumbled in the United States on Friday and Australian mining shares took a hit.
Home fragrance company Ecoya debuted on the market today, but the news was bleak from the once-hyped Genesis Research and Rural Portfolio Capital.
The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 5.774 points, or 0.176 percent, at 3280.353. Turnover was worth $75.43 million. There were 21 rises and 66 falls among the 119 stocks traded.
"Our market is quite resilient today considering what's been happening offshore, with Australia losing ground on the new taxation proposal," said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton, Hindin, Greene.
Ecoya debuted at its issue price of $1 and traded as low as 95c before closing at 99c. Volume was light.
Among the leaders Fletcher Building fell 3c to $8.38, Telecom was unchanged at $2.17 and Contact Energy rose 3c to $6.28.
Air New Zealand eased 2c to $1.34 after saying it will seek approval for an alliance on the Tasman with Virgin Blue. The code-sharing deal had been signalled last week.
Pike River Coal fell 3.7c to $1.06. The shares no longer qualify for rights in its right issue and the rights traded today at 17.2c.
OceanaGold fell 13c to $3.30 even though the company said drilling had identified further gold deposits at its Frasers Underground mine.
Rural stocks were depressed by news that trading was halted in Rural Portfolio Capital preference shares after two enforcements events in its trust deed.
PGG Wrightson was unchanged at 53c, Pyne Gould Corp fell 1c to 46c and New Zealand Farming Systems Uruguay fell 1c to 40c.
Genesis Research fell 2c to 4c after the company suspended its New Zealand operations.
APN News fell 5c to $3.05. Sanford fell 3c to $4.27, TrustPower fell 7c to $7.33, SkyTV fell 3c to $5.
NZ Refining fell 8c to $3.67. Tenon rose 7c to 99c and Comvita rose 35c to $2.75.
In the US, stocks tumbled on Friday (local time) to close out the worst week since January as news of a criminal probe into Goldman Sachs unnerved investors already anxious about the prospects for heavy regulation from Washington.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.4 percent to 11,008.61, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 1.7 percent to 1186.69, and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 2 percent to 2461.19.
For the week, the Dow fell 1.2 percent, the S&P 500 lost 2.5 percent, and the Nasdaq dropped 2.7 percent.
