22 May 2009

Asia-Pacific markets down

9:48 pm on 22 May 2009

Markets in Asia and the Pacific were lower at the end of the trading week.

In New Zealand, the benchmark index fell 16 points, or 0.6%, on Friday to close at 2761 on turnover of $58 million.

Telecom was up 2 cents at $2.60, Fletcher Building fell 12c to $6.43 and Contact Energy was unchanged at $5.85.

Briscoe Group rose 2c at $1.02 after saying it is looking for acquisitions.

TrustPower was down 15c to $7.65 after announcing chief executive Keith Tempest will step down later this year after eight years at the helm.

The Australian share market closed lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 52.3 points, or 1.37%, at 3,761.6, while the broader All Ordinaries index had fallen 49.3 points, or 1.3%, to 3,755.4.

Japanese share prices ended down 0.41% on Friday as losses on Wall Street and a stronger yen scared off buyers.

The benchmark Nikkei-225 index lost 38.34 points to 9,225.81. The broader Topix index of all first section shares slipped 5.56 points, or 0.63%, to 875.88.