NZ sharemarket opens flat
The New Zealand sharemarket was flat in early trading, after Prime Minister John Key commented on the official cash rate for the second time in a week.
The New Zealand sharemarket was flat in early trading, after Prime Minister John Key commented on the official cash rate for the second time in a week.
Many economists are expecting the Reserve Bank will cut the OCR from 3 percent to 2.5 percent on Thursday, and today Mr Key said a cut in the rate would probably help the country.
The NZ dollar fell toward US73.40c after the comment, but by 10am had dragged itself back to around US73.65c.
Around 10.20am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 0.65 points to 3418.75, having gained 20.8 points on Friday.
Mainfreight was up 8c to 820 after announcing it had signed a deal to buy Netherlands-based Wim Bosman Group for 110 million euro.
Sky TV was up 3c to 558, Pumpkin Patch gained 2c to 130, Fisher&Paykel Healthcare was up 2c to 304, and Fletcher Building added 2c to 304.
Contact Energy lost 3c early to 605, Air New Zealand was down 2c to 127, and Telecom slipped 1c to 215.
In the United States, Wall Street erased most of its weekly gains on Friday (local time) as fears of more geopolitical turmoil and higher oil prices threaten to stifle rallies in coming weeks.
The worries overshadowed strong labour market news. US unemployment fell below 9 percent for the first time in nearly two years, but investors quickly turned to focus on intensified fighting in Libya and simmering unrest throughout the region.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.7 percent at 12,169.88, the Standard&Poor's 500 Index was down 0.7 percent at 1321.15, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.5 percent at 2784.67.
For the week, the Dow rose 0.3 percent and the S&P and the Nasdaq both gained 0.1 percent.
NZPA
Mon, 07 Mar 2011
Mon, 07 Mar 2011
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NZ sharemarket opens flat
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