NZ shares fall 0.6 pct, Contact slips on warning

WELLINGTON, June 8 (Reuters) - New Zealand stocks fell on
Monday, weighed down by a profit downgrade for the second
biggest stock and mixed performance from overseas markets.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index .NZ50 closed down
17.9 points or 0.6 percent to 2,816.62. Trade was lighter than
usual, due to a public holiday in New Zealand's largest trading
partner, Australia.

"I wouldn't read too much into it, its just the thinness and
mixed overseas, with slightly negative U.S. futures," said ABN
Amro Craigs senior equities dealer Bryon Burke.

The second largest stock, power company Contact Energy Ltd
(CEN.NZ) fell 15 cents or 2.6 percent after it warned that its
underlying earnings were expected to fall by as much as 33
percent because high hydro lakes had caused power prices to
fall. See [ID:nWEL440522]

It recovered slightly to close at NZ$5.67, down 13 cents.

Top stock Telecom (TEL.NZ), which has a near 18 percent
weighting in the index, shed five cents to NZ$2.56.

Utilities investor Infratil Ltd (IFT.NZ) gained five cents
or 2.4 percent to NZ$1.74, after it said it had granted a call
option to a group of private equity funds over part of its
stake in Australia's Energy Developments Ltd. See [WLF001365]

Japan's Nikkei .N225 hit an eight month high on Monday,
boosted by a weaker yen JPY= and hopes of a U.S. economic
recovery, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng .HSI fell.

U.S. stocks had ended mixed on Friday, with the Dow Jones
industrial average .DJI gaining 0.15 percent, but the broader
Standard and Poor's 500 index .SPX down 0.25 percent, and the
tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC down 0.03 percent.