The achievement of key milestones by stock markets in the United States and Australia failed to spark an early rise on the sharemarket in this country.But the benchmark NZX-50 index was still hovering close to its 18-month high reached last Wednesday, sli
The achievement of key milestones by stock markets in the United States and Australia failed to spark an early rise on the sharemarket in this country.
But the benchmark NZX-50 index was still hovering close to its 18-month high reached last Wednesday, slipping 2.15 points to 3311.99 by 10.15am, after yesterday closing up 3.9 points.
Pike River Coal was down 8c to 107, Mainfreight dropped 5c to 645, Fletcher Building fell 3c to 830, Auckland Airport was down 2c to 201, and Fisher&Paykel Healthcare dropped 2c to 336.
An early 2c gain by Telecom took the battered heavyweight to 222, with retailer The Warehouse lifting 2c to 382, and Contact Energy also lifting 2c, to 645.
In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 11,000 for the first time in almost 19 months as expectations of solid first-quarter earnings spurred buying in financial, energy and industrial sectors.
Even so, some investors said stock prices already reflect lofty expectations for first-quarter results, with both the Dow and the Standard&Poor's 500 near 19-month highs.
The Dow closed above 11,000 after briefly topping that level on Friday for the first time since September 2008. The S&P 500, which is up 7.2 percent since the start of the year, rose to within 1 point of the 1200 level, a critical resistance level.
News of an aid plan for Greece calmed worries about sovereign debt risk, helping sentiment on Wall Street, while aluminium company Alcoa Inc gained 1.3 percent on a day when aluminum prices touched an 18-month high.
The Dow rose 0.1 percent to 11,005.97, the S&P 500 climbed 0.2 percent to 1196.48, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.2 percent to 2457.87.
Yesterday, the Australian sharemarket's bellwether index burst through 5000 for the first time since the financial crisis began.
The broad-based All Ordinaries index climbed 0.8 percent to 5011.6 points, driven by stronger resources, energy and banking stocks.
The last time the index closed above 5000 points was September 2008.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed up 0.7 percent at 4984.3 points, with analysts expecting it to also move through 5000 this week.
