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NZX50 falls as ASX lifts 1.3pc


Some global markets may have been directionless -- milling around as the eurozone focused on the Greek debt crisis -- but the NZX knew where it was going: down.

NZPA
Tue, 21 Jun 2011

Some global markets may have been directionless -- milling around as the eurozone focused on the Greek debt crisis -- but the NZX knew where it was going: down.

The NZX50 benchmark index fell 7.9 points -- 0.229 percent -- in today's session, to 3459.562 as 33.8 million shares valued at $108m were traded among the stocks that made up the index.

At its session low in the early afternoon, the index dipped to 3457 points before recovering some of the ground it lost.

In the market overall there were 30 rises and 33 falls among the 108 stocks traded, with a total of 36.5m shares traded for $110m.

Contact Energy shares fell 11c in early trading after monthly operational data for May showed electricity generation and prices down from a year ago, and kept slipping through the day to finish down 18c at 557.

By comparison, Trustpower rose 7c to 724, and Vector lifted 3c to 250.

The two biggest hitters among the index stocks both lifted in early trade, but finished the day facing in different directions.

Fletcher Building gained 9c early on, but finished the day down 6c at 850, while Telecom edged up 0.5c early on and finished up 1.5c at 241.5.

Mainfreight lifted 9c to 1010, and Freightways lifted 6c to 348. Cavalier Corp lost 5c to 365 and Telstra fell 8c to 392.

Among the retailers, the Warehouse lifted 1c to 352.

Australian stocks held onto early gains -- on the back of strong rises in the materials and energy sectors -- so that the benchmark ASX200 index finished 1.3 percent up, rising 56.5 points at 4508.2.

The index was buoyed not only by mining stocks but sharp rises in banks 
 and a $10 billion bid for top brewer Foster's Group.

Foster's rejected a long-expected bid from global brewing giant SABMiller , triggering a 13 percent rise in its shares as investors bet SABMiller would raise its offer. In the United States, stocks rose as the latest development to reduce Greece's debt helped draw buyers, but anaemic volume signalled the recent weakness may not be over.

Euro-zone finance ministers gave Greece two weeks to approve stricter austerity measures in return for another 12 billion euros ($NZ21.2b) in emergency loans, piling pressure on Athens to get its ragged finances in order.

The euro-zone finance ministers expected the money, the next tranche in a 110b euro bailout of Greece by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, to be paid by mid-July. Greece needed the loans by then to avoid a debt default.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 0.6 percent to end at 12,080.38, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.5 percent to 1278.36, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.5 percent to 2629.66.

NZPA
Tue, 21 Jun 2011
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NZX50 falls as ASX lifts 1.3pc
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