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NZ sharemarket falls as key stocks come under pressure


The New Zealand sharemarket fell a percent today as key stocks which have been market drivers turned lower.

NZPA
Thu, 09 Jun 2011

 

The New Zealand sharemarket fell a percent today as key stocks which have been market drivers turned lower.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 36.645 points at 3488.745. As it closed the Australian market was higher.

"Today is probably our worst relative performance day for quite some time against Australia," said David Price at Forsyth Barr.

Contact Energy fell 16c to 586 and Fletcher Building fell 18c to 857. Both stocks have big index weights.

With respect to Fletcher Building, investors had been looking through signs of weakness in the economy and some now felt the recovery would be slow, Mr Price said.

A Reserve Bank of New Zealand monetary policy statement today was perceived as hawkish by the currency market today, but by the end of the day there was some doubt about that.

Telecom eased 3c to 232.5 and NZ Refining eased 23c to 392 after reporting operating statistics yesterday.

OceanaGold eased 10c to 292 and SkyCity eased 8c to 351. Vector eased 3c to 255 and TrustPower eased 2c to 738. Guinness Peat Group eased 0.5c to 83 a day after its annual meeting.

Ryman Healthcare rose 8c to 281 even after going ex dividend this week.

"Through thick and thin the company has done well," Mr Price said.

Freightways was also strong, rising 4c to 351. Nuplex rose 4c to 312 and Mainfreight rose 2c to 984.

Hallenstein Glasson rose 2c to 382 and Pumpkin Patch rose a cent to 116. Kathmandu Holdings eased a cent to 218.

In the United States, stocks extended losses for the sixth straight day as investors worried that a slowing economy could deepen the market's retreat.

The latest evidence of a slowdown came in the Federal Reserve's Beige Book, which gives an anecdotal report on the economy. It reinforced Fed chief Ben Bernanke's bearish assessment on growth earlier this week.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.2 percent to 12,048.94, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 0.4 percent to 1279.56, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1 percent to 2675.38.

The Dow, which on May 2 was up 10.6 percent for the year when it hit its 2011 closing high, is now up just 4.1 percent. The S&P 500, which had climbed as much as 8.2 percent for the year is now up just 1.7 percent, and the Nasdaq, up 8 percent for the year at its 2011 closing high is now up only 0.9 percent.

NZPA
Thu, 09 Jun 2011
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NZ sharemarket falls as key stocks come under pressure
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