The New Zealand sharemarket continued to lose ground this morning, hitting a nine-month low as markets around the world also slipped on sovereign debt fears in Europe.The benchmark NZX-50 index, which has been on a downward slide for the last month, close
The New Zealand sharemarket continued to lose ground this morning, hitting a nine-month low as markets around the world also slipped on sovereign debt fears in Europe.
The benchmark NZX-50 index, which has been on a downward slide for the last month, closed 10.46 points lower yesterday. This morning it lost another 55.661 points, or 1.8 percent, to 3055.754.
Up to 35 companies in the top 50 lost value and top stock Telecom shed 6c to drop to a historic low of 199.
NZX, the sharemarket company itself, lost 10c to 160, Guinness Peat Group slipped 3c to 76, ANZ Banking Group lost 89c to $24.99 and Pike River Coal dropped 5c to 98.
Telstra lost 4c to 369, Fisher&Paykel Health slid 9c to 335 and Fisher&Paykel Appliances lost 1c to 58.
Fletcher Building lost 21c to 785, Auckland Airport was down 3c to 188 and AMP dropped 1c to 680.
The only stock improving this morning was Tourism Holdings, which announced the appointment to its board of highly regarded former Fisher&Paykel Appliances managing director John Bongard.
US stocks dropped overnight, driving the Dow and the S&P 500 down more than 3 percent and pushing the Nasdaq down more than 4 percent, on growing fears that the euro zone's handling of its sovereign debt crisis could jeopardise the global economic recovery.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 376.36 points, or 3.61 percent, to end unofficially at 10,068.01. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index slid 43.46 points, or 3.90 percent, to close unofficially at 1,071.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 94.36 points, or 4.11 percent, to finish unofficially at 2204.01.
Britain's top share index was 1.7 percent lower by Thursday's local close. In a volatile session, the FTSE 100 ended down 84.95 points at 5073.13, its lowest close since February 5, having fallen 2.8 percent on Wednesday.
Japan's Nikkei average hit a three-month closing low, after dropping below 10,000 at one point. The Nikkei shed 1.5 percent to 10,030.31, its lowest finish since February 15.
Australian stocks yesterday slid 1.6 percent to a fresh nine-month low, as hedge funds whittled down risk on their books, dumping the Aussie dollar and ditching their bets on takeover plays. The S&P/ASX 200 ended down 70.6 points at 4316.5, taking the week's loss so far to 6.4 percent.
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