The New Zealand sharemarket scaled giddy heights in early trading, but slumped just as rapidly during the afternoon, with the benchmark NZX50 finishing down 2.105 points (down 0.061 percent) at 3457.457 points.
The New Zealand sharemarket scaled giddy heights in early trading, but slumped just as rapidly during the afternoon, with the benchmark NZX50 finishing down 2.105 points (down 0.061 percent) at 3457.457 points.
It was the fifth successive drop for the NZX50, which during the day jumped 20 points from its close at 3459.562, on Tuesday, when it dropped 7.9 points.
By comparison, Australia's benchmark ASX200 index gained 24.4 points today to finish at 4532.6, adding to a 56.5 point gain on Tuesday.
A total of 34 million shares were traded on the NZX, valued at $99.9m, with 37 rises and 36 falls among the 105 stocks traded.
Among the major stocks, Fletcher Building gained 6c to 856, Contact Energy fell 6c to 551, and Telecom edged up 0.5c to 242.
The Warehouse lost 4c to 348, Sky TV lifted 5c to 568, Ryman Healthcare was up 3c to 269, and Air New Zealand added 2c to 114.
Trustpower finished down 3c to 721, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare lost 11c to 286, while Abano Healthcare fell 7c to 450.
The Australian sharemarket closed higher on investor optimism that debt-burdened Greece will access more bailout money.
The benchmark S&P
ASX200 index was up 0.54 percent (24.4 points), at 4532.6, while the broader All Ordinaries index was 25.6 points or 0.56 percent higher at 4590.8.
In the United States, stocks posted gains for the fourth day.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.9 percent to 12,190.01 at the close, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 1.3 percent to 1295.52, and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 2.2 percent to 2687.26.
