21 Apr 2009

NZ market dips

7:36 pm on 21 April 2009

The New Zealand sharemarket closed down 34 points or 1.2% to 2664 on turnover of $52 million.

Telecom gained 5 cents to $2.55, Contact Energy lost 14c to $5.64 and Fletcher Building lost 27c to $6.28.

Sky City lost 8c to close at $2.85 after announcing its intention to raise $229 million of new capital, while Nuplex lost 3c to close at $3.80 after announcing its rights issue closed undersubscribed.

The Warehouse lost 2c to close at $3.46.

The Australian 200 index is down 91 points, or 2.4% percent to 3677.

In currency markets, the dollar is trading at 55.67 US cents, 79.23 Australian, 38.19 pence, 54.69 yen, and 0.4299 euro. The TWI stands at 55.92.

Tokyo

Japanese share prices closed down 2.39% on Tuesday following heavy losses on Wall Street.

The Nikkei index fell 213.42 points to 8,711.33. The broader Topix index of all first section shares dropped 17.58 points, or 2.07%, to 830.72.

US markets

In the United States: the Dow Jones industrial average slumped 3.56% to 7,841.73.

Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 4.28% to 832.39 and the Nasdaq composite index declined 3.88% to 1,608.21.