KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket slipped today but was still seen doing better than many overseas bourses.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index ended the day down 21.07 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 3235.5, with Fletcher Building hard hit, dropping 24c to 625.
Among 121 stocks traded on the market, there were 31 rises and 57 falls, with turnover of 28.2 million shares worth $92.4 million
Around the time the New Zealand market closed, Australian shares were down 1.4 per cent having been down 2 per cent earlier in the day.
Asian stocks were also down sharply , with Japan's Nikkei share average down 2 per cent, and shares in the rest of the Asia-Pacific region also dropped 2 per cent, according to an index.
UBS managing director Campbell Stuart said the New Zealand market had performed relatively well.
Trading was "very quiet", with limited information available, while this country was obviously not affected in the way some overseas markets were by falling financial shares.
"There's a huge amount of volatility in the market and people are probably running scared, and probably quite happy to keep their money in cash for the moment," Mr Stuart said.
Top stock Telecom ended the day down 2c at 359, although Contact Energy managed to add 3c to 820.
Stocks to fall included Cavalier down 5c to 235, Hallenstein Glasson 5c to 280, Mainfreight 7c to 650, Nuplex 5c to 535, Ryman Healthcare 5c to 163, and Trustpower 5c to 770. Down 3c each were The Warehouse to 388, Sky City to 337, Freightways to 300, and Fisher & Paykel Appliances to 195.
F&P Healthcare was up 3c to 260, with Infratil also up 3c to 224, and Sanford up 3c to 533.
Sky TV lifted 5c to 455, Pumpkin Patch was up 4c to 145, and Hellaby Holdings up 4c to 164.
Steel & Tube rose 15c to 285, but Mr Stuart said that given only around 13,000 of the company's shares were traded he doubted too much could be read into that.
The falls on Asian markets came after Merrill Lynch, the third-largest US investment bank, said it would take a US$5.7 billion ($7.75 billion) writedown related to bad debt, draining confidence in the unstable financial sector.
Coming a day after one of Australia's top banks flagged A$1.2 billion ($1.56 billion) in bad debt provisions for the 2008 second half, the news increased fears that the year-old international financial crises has further to run.
- NZPA
