20 Feb 2009

NZ sharemarket slides

10:02 pm on 20 February 2009

The NZX Top 50 index closed down 40 points to 2576 on turnover of $59 million on Friday.

Telecom was down 12c to $2.38 while Sky Television was down 24c to $3.95 after announcing its half year profit fell 17%.

Contact Energy fell by 15c to $6.10 and Nuplex by 5c to $1.45, a day after its share price fell by nearly a fifth following news it had breached its banking covenants.

PGG Wrightsons was down 23c to 59c but Fletcher Building rose, by 20c to $5.45.

Auckland International Airport was unchanged at $1.89.

In currency markets shortly after 5pm, the dollar was trading at 50.37 US cents, 78.79 Australian, 35.43 pence, 47.35 yen and 0.3992 euro. The Trade Weighted Index stood at 51.71.

Australia

The Australian stock market closed firmly in the red on Friday due to profit taking following a negative lead from United States markets.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 46.5 points, or 1.35%, at 3,402.4 while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 45 points, or 1.32%, to 3,353.

Japan down

Japanese share prices ended down 1.87% on Friday, hitting a near four-month low after Wall Street tumbled.

The benchmark Nikkei-225 index fell 141.27 points to 7,416.38, the lowest closing level since 27 October.

The broader Topix index of all first-section shares declined 12.06 points, or 1.6%, to 739.53.