The New Zealand sharemarket continued its slide of the past week early today, after stocks in the United States had staggered to the end of a dismal second quarter with yet another late-day sell off.Around 10.20am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 10.86
The New Zealand sharemarket continued its slide of the past week early today, after stocks in the United States had staggered to the end of a dismal second quarter with yet another late-day sell off.
Around 10.20am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 10.86 points to 2961.23, having yesterday fallen 19 points as part of a sharp decline since opening last Thursday above 3050 points.
Fletcher Building shares lost 5c early today to 780, its lowest level in five weeks, while Contact Energy dropped 3c to 566 just 1c above its four-month low reached during trading yesterday. Telecom was unchanged early on 189.
Fisher&Paykel Healthcare fell 4c to 308, Air New Zealand was down 3c to 104, Mainfreight was down 3c to 612, NZ Refining Co lost 3c to 308 and NZX dropped 3c to 146. Tourism Holdings did make a gain, lifting 3c to 77.
In the US investors found little reason to take on risk after conflicting economic data.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1 percent to 9774.02, the Standard&Poor's 500 Index slid 1 percent to 1030.71, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.2 percent to 2109.24.
For the quarter the S&P lost 12 percent, the Dow 10 percent and the Nasdaq 12 percent as worry about sovereign debt and the sustainability of the US economic recovery caused investors to pull back from a peak hit in late April.
The S&P fell below the 1040 level that it had held since February, breaking out to the downside from what chartists call a very bearish "head and shoulders" price pattern and suggesting a major fall could come in the next five months.
Sign up to get the latest stories and insights delivered to your inbox – free, every day.
