Market lower on US woes

By AARON LIM - BusinessDay.co.nz | Friday, 03 October 2008

The New Zealand sharemarket was sharply lower by mid-morning, taking its lead from a punishing night on Wall Street.

The NZX 50 index was down 63.359 points, or 2 per cent to 3169.281 mid-morning.

Leading stock Telecom, which held its annual general meeting yesterday was down 8c to $2.87 at the start of the day.

Fletcher Building fell 2c to $7.00 at the start of trading today.

Contact Energy was down 8c to $7.80, with Rakon falling 5c to $2.34

NZ Oil & Gas was down 3c in early trading to $1.30

Overnight, Wall Street stocks fell on the back of concerns over the global banking crisis, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sinking 359.7 points, or 3.3 per cent to 10,471.

The Nasdaq finished the session down 4.35 per cent to 1,979 and the S&P 500 slid 47 points to 1,114.

Despite US Senate approval of the US$700 billion rescue package, uncertainty permeated Wall Street on the back of grim US economic data.

The U.S. government reported the number of people filing for new jobless benefit claims rose to a seven-year high in the latest week and factory orders showed a steeper-than-expected drop in August.

 Oil fell as turmoil in financial markets stoked concerns about fuel demand and sent investors seeking safer havens.

 U.S. crude settled down $4.56 at $93.97, while London Brent fell $4.77 to settle at $90.56 a barrel.

 The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 1.3 percent lower at 1,058.81 points, after being ahead earlier in the session. The index is down 30 percent in 2008.

 In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei Average dropped 1.9 per cent overnight, its lowest close in three years.  

The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan fell 1.2 percent.

 - with Reuters