The New Zealand sharemarket ended the week in the red today, after weak leads from markets overseas.

The NZX50 index was down 0.45 per cent or 16. 11 points to 3547.99. Within the index, 27 stocks fell, 11 rose and eight were down.

The Australian market was down more than 1 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 1 per cent and Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1.1 per cent.

Goldman Sachs JBWere institutional broker Peter Sigley said the local market was down moderately on a poor lead-in from overseas although there was "nothing too dramatic" in the index changes.

"The key piece of news on the positive side today was Auckland International Airport announcing there would be new Air China flights operating which was not only positive for traffic flow but also the tourism sector on top of the recent announcement about providing additional services into Japan over the summer period," Sigley said.

The airport's shares fell 1 per cent to $2.51 however. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 1 per cent to $1.94.

"Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was quite strong, it was up after a very strong result in rival ResMed particularly in mask sales. That was seen as a sign the market is continuing to grow, ahead of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare's annual general meeting later this month."

Rural services company PGG Wrightson led the declining stocks with a 3.1 per cent fall to 31c. Investment holding company Guinness Peat Group was down 2 per cent to 49c.

Westpac fell 1.9 per cent to $29.97. Markets operator NZX Limited was down 1.7 per cent to $1.17. Australian wealth manager AMP fell 1.55 per cent to $5.07.

OceanaGold was down 1.5 per cent to $2.60. Contact Energy fell 1.4 per cent to $4.93. Property for Industry, the industrial buildings investor, was down 1.3 per cent to $1.16.

Insurer Tower was down 1.1 per cent to $1.74. Chorus fell 1 per cent to $3.08.

Would-be bank Heartland led the gaining stocks with a 1.9 per cent rise to 54c. Carpet maker Cavalier was up 1.3 per cent to $1.60. Infratil rose 0.5 per cent to $2.10.

Kiwi Income Property Trust rose 0.5 per cent to $1.09. Pay TV operator Sky Network Television was up 0.4 per cent to $5.02. Australian phone company Telstra rose 0.4 per cent to $5.17.

- © Fairfax NZ News