REFILE-UPDATE 5-NYSE Euronext reports big loss; shares tumble

(Refiling to add dropped word 'lower' in 1st paragraph)

* Q4 loss $5.06 per share after charge of $1.59 bln

* Excluding items, results fell short of expectations

* Halts stock buybacks, maintains dividend

* Sees $250 mln to $325 mln revs from new business in '09

* Shares down 9 percent; biggest financial decliner (Adds 2009 outlook, CEO comment, updates share decline)

By Daisy Ku and Jonathan Spicer

LONDON/NEW YORK, Feb 9 (Reuters) - NYSE Euronext (NYX.PA)(NYX.N), operator of the New York Stock Exchange, reported a quarterly loss on Monday as it took a $1.59 billion charge to write down the value of its trans-Atlantic merger, sending its shares sharply lower.

Excluding the goodwill charge and other one-time items, the company reported a 20 percent profit drop, missing Wall Street estimates, as rivals forced it to cut prices and currency changes further dented its business.

The company's shares fell 9 percent after it announced the big charge -- a balance sheet adjustment meant to reflect last year's global market drop. NYSE Euronext was the biggest weighted decliner in the S&P index .GSPF of financial stocks.

The charge "certainly involves a close examination of future cash flows, (but) in my view it tells us more about the psychology of current market conditions than it is an indicator of underlying growth prospects of our businesses," said Chief Executive Duncan Niederauer.

The bourse, which has struggled to streamline a flurry of acquisitions, also said it would halt a share buyback program to preserve capital. However, it will maintain its quarterly dividend of 30 cents a share through 2009.

"With these two actions, we are attempting to strike the right balance between capital management and shareholder value," the CEO told analysts and media on a conference call.

Niederauer's predecessor, John Thain, steered the NYSE's takeover of European exchange group Euronext in 2007. Niederauer took the reins at NYSE Euronext in December 2007 after the $14 billion deal was complete.

For the fourth quarter, NYSE Euronext posted a loss of $1.34 billion, or $5.06 per share, due to the charge, which the company said would have no impact on day-to-day operations.

Excluding one-time items, it earned $137 million, or 52 cents per share, down from $173 million, or 65 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue grew 21 percent to $1.18 billion.