New Zealand shares closed weaker on Monday, as indifferent offshore leads and ongoing apprehensions concerning bellwether Telecom carried weighing on sentiment.

The standard NZX-50 fell by 0.9% or 25.70 points at 3008.41. Telecom shed 3.6% to NZ$1.90.

Forsyth Barr broker, Peter Young said that shareholders might be worried after, Chairman, Wayne Boyd kept on saying again and again, that there were challenges ahead for the Company in relation to the Government's national fiber rollout arrangement.

Telecom's board mooted last month separating Telecom into retail and fiber Companies, so that it could be a participant in constructing the NZ$3 billion high-speed network, as a retailer. At present, it can't be part of the rollout.

Boyd said that the network will essentially redesign the local telecommunications industry. Boyd in addition said that he would continue with his role with Telecom till the time it had completed its conversion, at this time of turbulent transformation.

Stock exchange NZX ended down at 1.4% at NZ$1.45. First NZ Capital Analyst, Greg Main demoted his price target for the Company to NZ$1.65 from NZ$1.85, as the market continued at more subdued set than anticipated.

He stated that the NZX fee structure would raise revenue by almost NZ$1 million on an annual basis, but was watching to see how corporations responded to the alterations since they were larger than probable.