WELLINGTON Dec 6 BusinessDesk - New Zealand shares fell after Standard & Poor's put most European nations on notice for a possible credit rating downgrade.
Rakon dropped to a record low and has shed almost 30 per cent since posting a loss last month.
Port of Tauranga gained to a record after winning a business of its biggest rival.
The NZX 50 Index fell 9.73 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 3291.48. Within the index, 25 stocks fell, 13 rose and 13 were unchanged. Turnover was $69 million.
Rakon, which makes crystal timing devices, fell 6 per cent to 47 cents, less than a third of the price it sold for in its initial public offering in 2006.
Managing director Brent Robinson said last month the global economic environment is "challenging".
Equity markets fell across Asia after S&P said it could downgrade all of the euro zone countries including AAA rated Germany, France and Austria.
Fletcher Building, New Zealand's biggest construction firm, fell 0.9 per cent to $6.30.
Contact Energy, the biggest listed power company, shed 1.2 per cent to $5.58.
The company says it has agreed to buy a 150 Megawatt diesel-fuelled peaker plant at its site at Whirinaki, north of Napier, for $33 million.
Port of Tauranga rose 2.7 per cent to a record close of $10.07 after Maersk, the biggest provider of shipping to New Zealand, said it was shifting its Southern Star container service to Tauranga from Ports of Auckland.
The Auckland port company said the loss of the service would slash $20 million from its annual revenue.
Chorus gained 2 per cent to $3.05, recovering from as low as $2.91 on Tuesday, below its $2.94 listing price last week when the network company was spun off from Telecom.
Some 21 million Chorus shares changed hands, making it one of the most active on the bourse.
NZN