NZ shares dip as Fletcher gives up pursuit of Steel & Tube

The S&P/NZX 50 index declined 5.17 points, or 0.1 percent, to 8,838.07. Within the index, 26 stocks fell, 19 gained and five were unchanged. Turnover was $132.8 million.

Fletcher fell 0.8 percent to $6.10 in busier activity than usual, with 4.6 million shares traded. The country's biggest listed building company gave up plans to buy Steel & Tube when the steel products maker wouldn't immediately endorse an increased offer of $1.90 per share, plus scope for the smaller firm to pay a 5 cents per share special dividend.

Steel & Tube stock jumped as high as $1.73 after announcing the increased offer, before closing down 1.3 percent to $1.48. Some 1.2 million shares were traded - more than five times the stock's 90-day average.

"It was a pretty quick turnaround there - the few shareholders who traded in that hour or two will be a little bit annoyed," said Grant Davies, an investment advisor at Hamilton Hindin Greene. "Now it's up to Steel & Tube to show they've made the right call in rebuffing Fletcher."