29 Oct 2009

Wall Street down

9:05 am on 29 October 2009

There was gloom on Wall Street on Wednesday after new house sales in September fell.

The Dow Jones Index is down 81 points or just over 0.75% to 9800. The Nasdaq Composite was down by 2%, 45 points, to 2070.

European markets also recorded falls of around 2% in London, Frankfurt and Paris.

The Australian 200 Index fell by almost 1.5%, or 68 points, to 4685.

In New Zealand, the NZX 50 closed 10 points higher at 3202 on turnover of $72 million on Wednesday.

At 8am on Thursday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 72.87 US cents, 81.06 Australian cents, 44.36 pence, 66.15 yen and 0.4945 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 75.82.

Brent crude oil was trading at $US75.30 per barrel. Gold was trading at $US1028 per ounce.