New Zealand stocks were down today on the back of a gloomy economic report showing a sharp drop in business confidence.

The report from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research showed only a net 1 per cent of companies surveyed reported a pick up in the level of activity they had experienced in the June quarter, compared to a net 22 per cent which said in March that they expected activity to increase.

NZIER said the survey results were consistent with annual economic growth of around 2 per cent.

The NZX50 index was down 0.44 per cent, or 15.47 points, to 3464.72.

Craigs Investment Partners adviser Stuart Hardie said the Canterbury rebuild was now being seen as more of a gradual process.

"Certainly everyone's looking towards the rebuild and when that's going to really kick off in earnest, there's obviously stuff going on down there but I think that sort of explosion that was supposed to happen will be more of a gradual rebuild.

"Fletcher Building got thrown around a bit on the news out today from the NZIER saying that the economy is flat-lining really, and of course Fletchers being a cyclical stock, it's taking the weight of the economy."

Hardie said volumes traded were still light and that many investors were "on holiday".

Fletcher Building was down 1.6 per cent to $6.10 on 1.65 million trades.

Goodman Fielder was down 6.8 per cent to 68 cents, Oceana Gold was down 5.7 per cent to $2.31 and NZ refining was down 2.6 per cent to 2.26.

Fisher & Paykel dropped 2.4 per cent to $2, Vector was down 1.8 per cent to $2.65 and NZX Limited was down 1.5 per cent to $1.33.

Leading the gainers was Telstra with a 2.5 per cent jump to $4.90, follwed by Diligent Board Member Services up 2.3 per cent to $3.91 and Heartland New Zealand up 1.9 per cent to 53 cents.

Skellerup was also up 1.4 per cent to $1.44, Chorus was up 1.2 per cent to $3.25 and AMP was up 1.24 to $4.90. 

- © Fairfax NZ News