5 Sep 2008

NZ sharemarket falls

10:03 pm on 5 September 2008

The New Zealand share market shed 11 points to 3336 at the close on Friday on turnover of $122 million.

Telecom was down 3 cents to $3.15 after the Commerce Commission announced its draft determination for sub-loop unbundling.

Fletcher Building rose 5c to $7.55, while Contact Energy was up 1c to $8.36.

Vector was down 1c to $2.25 after the Commerce Commission said it would not accept prices Vector has submitted for providing gas services.

Sanford rose 10c to $6.20, The Warehouse fell 9c to $3.22 and Auckland Airport was down 1c to $2.02.

The Australian share market fell over two per cent led lower by a sharp drop on Wall Street after weak US economic data.

At 1615 AEST, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 102.4 points, or 2.06%, to 4877.1, while the broader All Ordinaries lost 101.4 points, or 2.01% to 4949.5.

The September share price index futures contract was down 139 points at 1626 AEST to 4862 on volume of 34,324 contracts.

At 1655 AEST the spot price of gold was $US795.20 an ounce, down $US11.70 on Thursday's Sydney close of $US806.90 an ounce.

In Japan, share prices hit their lowest level in nearly six months on Friday, losing another 2.75% after weak US data, with a spike in the yen hitting exporter stocks, dealers said.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index lost 345.43 points to close at 12,212.23, the lowest close since mid-March.

The broader Topix index of all first-section shares dropped 30.81 points or 2.56% to 1,170.84, slipping below 1,200 points.