MARKET CLOSE: Shares fall, led by Kathmandu, ANZ, Westpac

New Zealand shares fell, led by Kathmandu Group Holdings and paced by Australian banks Westpac Banking Corp and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group amid weakness in the stock market across the Tasman. Fonterra Shareholders' Fund fell ahead of tonight's Global Dairy Trade auction.

The NZX 50 Index fell 26.030 points, 0.4 percent, to 5856.079. Within the index, 27 stocks fell, 18 rose and nine were unchanged. Turnover was $131 million.

Across the Tasman, Australian stocks fell after a Chinese data release, which raised concerns about the outlook for Australian hard commodity exports to Asia's largest economy. The S&P/ASX 200 Index declined 6 percent in afternoon trading.

Dual-listed stocks weighed on the local bourse. Kathmandu, the outdoor goods retailer which gets more than two-thirds of its income from Australia, led the benchmark index lower down 3 percent to $1.30. Westpac dropped 2.9 percent to $39.26. ANZ declined 2.1 percent to $5.20. Spark New Zealand, formerly Telecom Corp, fell 2.2 percent to $2.915. A2 Milk Co, the milk marketing company, declined 1.8 percent to 54 cents. Fletcher Building, the building supplies and construction firm, slipped 0.2 percent to $8.30.

"Australia has been dragged down a little bit today, with some softer Chinese data and their consumer confidence numbers came out softer as well," said Craig Stent, director at Harbour Asset Management. "There's general malaise in the Australia market."

Units in Fonterra Shareholders' Fund dropped 2.3 percent to $5.20, ahead of the GDT auction tonight where prices are expected to fall said Stent. Units in the fund give holders access to Fonterra Cooperative Group's dividend stream. On the debt market, Fonterra announced its $250 million bond issue had $100 million in oversubscriptions. The interest rate for the fixed rate bonds will be 4.33 percent annually, and will be issued on 20 April 2015 and will mature on 20 October 2021.

MightyRiverPower rose 2.3 percent to $3.07. Meridian Energy gained 0.3 percent to $1.92. Fisher and Paykel Healthcare advanced 0.9 percent to $6.94. Contact Energy rose 0.3 percent to $5.91.

"We're seeing locally here, a hunt for the more defensive stocks such as Meridian, MRP and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare," Stent said.

Outside the benchmark index, Vista Group International rose 1.2 percent to $4.40 after the cinema software firm announced a deal with Cote Cine Group, a leading cinema software service provider for the French cinema exhibition industry, which will see Vista build a leading market share in France.

(BusinessDesk)