NZ share market's winning streak ends

Air New Zealand and Sky City Entertainment Group led the NZX 50 Index lower after the stocks went ex-dividend and equity markets weakened in Europe and the US.

The NZX-50 fell 11.96 points, or 0.4 percent, to 3162.18 as at midday, snapping a five-day advance.

Wall Street set a negative tone for the local market, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 index falling1.2 percent after a Wall Street Journal report that European banks understated their holdings of risky debt during stress tests.

Air NZ declined 4.4 percent to $1.29 Investors who buy the stock today aren’t entitled to its 4 cents-a-share final dividend. The national carrier said yesterday it was slashing the cost of lead-in economy fares, and introducing four new in-flight product options for customers on flights between New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands

Sky City declined 3 percent to $2.88 after shedding its 9.25 cent final dividend.

OceanaGold Corp, which operates the operator of the Macraes goldfield, rose 1.3 percent to $4.80, after chief executive Paul Bibby resigned, citing personal reasons. Chairman Jim Askew will become executive chairman in the interim while the gold miner searches for a permanent replacement.

L&M Energy, the coal seam gas explorer, rose 9.5 percent to 13 cents after the company announced yesterday that it had raised $1.4 million in a share purchase plan, adding to its placement in July.

Some 15 percent of the company’s shareholders participated in the offer, buying shares at 9 Australian cents on the ASX and 11 cents on the NZX.

Shares in ING Property Trust, the listed office space investor, were unchanged at 71 cents after the company announced the sale of a retail property in Manukau and the acquisition of another in St Lukes. The Auckland properties are both valued at $10.5 million. The sale of the Manukau property was ahead of its $10.25 million book value, but down on the $16.4 million it paid in 2007.

The New Zealand dollar fell back under US72c as US financial markets re-opened after the Labor Day holiday and fears rose about the state of Europe’s financial sector.

Separately, Germany’s banking association said the country’s 10 biggest banks might need 105 billion euros in new capital to meet new regulatory rules for lenders to prevent future financial crises.

The kiwi recently traded at US71.89c from US72.08c yesterday, and fell to 67.01 on the trade-weighted index of major trading partners’ currencies from 67.13.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.2 percent to 4564.50 when the market opened in Sydney after Prime Minister Julia Gillard won enough support to form a minority government.

BHP Billiton fell 1.6 percent to A$37.87 and Rio Tinto dropped 1.6 percent to A$73.16 on concern Gillard’s administration will press ahead with its modified mining tax.

Foster’s Group jumped 5.1 percentb to A$6.37 after the liquor company rejected an offer of as much as A$1.7 billion for its wine business from a private equity firm.

- BusinessDesk