NZ sharemarket falls early in new week
The New Zealand sharemarket started the week in decline, as dual-listed banks Westpac and ANZ were knocked back.
The New Zealand sharemarket started the week in decline, as dual-listed banks Westpac and ANZ were knocked back.
Westpac lost 59c, or 2 percent, early to 2890, while ANZ fell 54c, or 1.8 percent, to 2956.
Bank stocks in the United States had taken a bashing at the end of last week, after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled against Wells Fargo and US Bancorp in a key case relating to banks' foreclosure processing.
Shares of Wells Fargo dropped 2 percent, those of Bank of America lost 1.3 percent while JPMorgan Chase fell 1.8 percent.
In this country, the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 4.65 points to 3313.29 around 10.15am today, having lost 7.8 points on Friday.
Cavalier Corp was down 2c to 303, while the Port of Tauranga was up 4c to 750, Hallenstein Glasson was up 3c to 420, Briscoe Group gained 3c to 138, and Freightways lifted 2c to 312.
In the US stocks closed with modest losses on Friday (local time) after a mixed unemployment report dampened sentiment and as bank stocks took a bashing following a court ruling on home foreclosures.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.2 percent to close at 11,674.76, while the Standard&Poor's 500 index was down 0.2 percent at 1271.50 points, and the tech-rich Nasdaq declined 0.3 percent at 2703.17.
The Labor Department reported a sharp fall in the unemployment rate in December to 9.4 percent, but at the same time, the economy created 103,000 jobs, many fewer than the 150,000 forecast by analysts.
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warned on Friday that the current rate of job creation was "insufficient" and meant a "considerable time" will be needed to right the jobs market.
NZPA
Mon, 10 Jan 2011
Mon, 10 Jan 2011
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NZ sharemarket falls early in new week
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