14 Aug 2008

NZ market down

9:53 pm on 14 August 2008

The benchmark NZX 50 index is down 7 points to 3338.

Among the changes, Fletcher Building was up 2 cents at $6.60 after a 4% fall in annual profit on Wednesday.

Telecom was down 7c to $3.31, while Contact Energy was up 2c to $8.47.

Auckland International Airport fell 2c to $2.03 after shelving plans to move to a single duty free operator.

Opus International was up 2c to $1.84 after half-year profit increased 36% to $9.1m.

New Zealand Oil & Gas was up 5 cents to 1.47.

The Australian share market is up 62 points, to 5014 at 5.20pm NZT.

In currency markets, the kiwi's trading at 69.91 US cents, 80.38 Australian, 37.43 pence, 76.50 Yen, and 0.4697 euro. The Trade Weighted Index stands at 64.90.

The spot price of gold was $US830.75 an ounce at 1620 AEST, up $US7.65 on Wednesday's close of $US823.10.

Nikkei slightly down

Japanese share prices closed down 0.51% on Thursday, ending below the key 13,000 points level as fresh problems in the United States financial sector and higher oil prices worried investors, dealers say.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index lost 66.25 points to 12,956.80, the lowest close since August 5. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares fell 7.55 points or 0.61% to 1,238.93.

Other markets

Europe's main stock markets climbed in opening trading on Thursday, despite news of shrinking economic growth in France and Germany during the second quarter of the year.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 advanced 0.44% to 6,450.73 points and in Paris the CAC 40 per cent won 0.83% to 4,439.48.

London's FTSE 100 index of top shares was up 0.47% at 5,474.40 points.

US markets ended in the red again on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 109.51 points, or 0.94%, to 11,532.96.

Standard & Poor's 500 Index slipped 3.76 points, or 0.29%, to 1,285.83. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 1.99 points, or 0.08%, at 2,428.62.

Trading volume was low on the New York Stock Exchange, with about 1.21 billion shares changing hands. About 2.05 billion shares were traded on the Nasdaq.