KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket was crunched again today by the global rout in equity markets but its losses were less than on other markets.
The NZSX-50 index closed down 55.881 points, or 1.86 per cent, at 2948.31. This was off the lows and nowhere near as bad as Asian markets, which fell by as much 6 per cent. The Australian market closed down 5 per cent in its lowest close in three years.
Only 16 stocks rose today but volume was good with $110.92 million worth of shares traded.
James Porteous of ABN Amro Craigs said it was a good sign that volume was improved.
"A market will only rise on volume, it doesn't rise on low volume," he said.
Pike River Coal fell 10c, or 6.45 per cent, to 145 on good volume. Mr Porteous said resource stocks had "been kicked in the tummy" today in the Australian market.
He said investors were still worried about the economic consequences of the problems in global financial markets even though there had been a number of packages designed to fix them.
"We thought the market should have been a bit better. There have been a lot moves made to try to sort these problems out," he said.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances fell 7c to 150 and Telecom fell 11c to 267. Fletcher Building fell 6c to 636.
Sky City was down 11c to 314, and Scott Technology down 10c to 115. Westpac fell 55c to 2520 and Tower 6c to 160. Pumpkin Patch fell 3c to 118.
Sanford rose 14c to 559. Mainfreight fell 17c to 588.
US stocks plunged overnight in their fifth straight declining session as fears mounted that the spiralling credit crisis would drag the economy into a deep recession.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 508.39 points, or 5.11 per cent, to 9447.11. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 60.66 points, or 5.74 per cent, to 996.23 - the first time the benchmark index has closed below the 1000 level in more than five years. The Nasdaq Composite Index slid 108.08 points, or 5.80 per cent, to 1754.88.
- NZPA
