Wellington, July 1 NZPA - The New Zealand sharemarket fell for its sixth consecutive session on continued weakness in offshore markets but the share price of fast food franchise operator Restaurant Brands rose after issuing a profit upgrade.

Diversified industrial company Skellerup also posted further gains after its profit upgrade yesterday. But it was not enough to counter a slide in the price of leaders Fletcher Building and Telecom.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 38.27 points, or 1.288 percent, at 2933.821. Turnover was worth $38.5 million. There were 21 rises and 49 falls among the 106 stocks traded.

"The rest of the market is not particularly good but there was more good news from Restaurant Brands. Really, ever since they have got out the Australian market they have gone from strength to strength," said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton, Hindin, Greene.

Restaurant Brands rose 8c to 238, its highest close in more than 10 years. Chairman Ted van Arkel told shareholders the company is on target to deliver a net profit after tax of between $24 million and $26m this financial year. That was up from the $20m the company predicted when it reported a 70 percent increase in annual profit in April.

Skellerup rose 2c to 70 after yesterday describing its second-half trading period as excellent. It is just off the year-high of 71 on May 12.

Fletcher Building fell 10c to 775 on a day on which building consent data in Australia was weak. Telecom fell 6c to 183 amid ongoing speculation about its role in the Government's broadband plans.

Pumpkin Patch fell 13c to 186, which brokers attributed to Australian retail sales data.

Allied Farmers eased very slightly to 3.9c but said as the market closed that its bank facilities have been extended until September 24 while talks continue.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 1c to 311, Air New Zealand was down 2c to 103, Mainfreight was down 4c to 611, NZ Refining Co lost 21c to 290 and NZX dropped 7c to 142. Tourism Holdings did make a gain, lifting 1c to 75.

Guinness Peat Group was still short of supporters and closed down 2c at 64. SkyCity eased 2c to 283. SkyTV eased 7c to 462. Michael Hill eased 1c to 68.

In the US investors found little reason to take on risk after conflicting economic data.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1 percent to 9774.02, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 1 percent to 1030.71, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.2 percent to 2109.24.

For the quarter the S&P lost 12 percent, the Dow 10 percent and the Nasdaq 12 percent as worry about sovereign debt and the sustainability of the US economic recovery caused investors to pull back from a peak hit in late April.

The S&P fell below the 1040 level that it had held since February, breaking out to the downside from what chartists call a very bearish "head and shoulders" price pattern and suggesting a major fall could come in the next five months.