NZ stocks: Sharemarket in the red after key international indices slump

The stock exchange was trading negatively through most of this morning and in line with overnight slides in most major international indices, a broker said.

At 11.30am, the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was down 3.44 points, or 0.16 per cent, at 2154.43, while the NZSX-40 capital index was down 3.99 points, 0.19 per cent, at 2083.27.

Both the NZSX-50 and NZSX-40 had opened positively, but quickly took a downward tack in what has been a flat market.

So far this morning there has been $17.7 million worth of shares traded on volume of 6.6 million. Among the 99 stocks traded there were 25 rises and 29 falls.

Market heavyweight Telecom was the dominant player in trading this morning, having turned $11.5 million on volume of 2.3 million.

At 11.30am, the telco's shares were up 1c to 511.

Forsyth Barr broker Brian Stewart said NZX was quiet ahead of the reporting season, which started next week, as there was not much corporate news around.

"The United States market is a little bit weaker, bonds are a bit higher so that sort of gives you a bit of a downward bias," Mr Stewart told NZPA today.

In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 62.05 points to 9204.46, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 7.24 points to 989.28. while the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 3.99 points to 1731.37.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei average finished down 5.6 points, 0.06 per cent, at 9834.31, while in London the FTSE 100 index closed down 11.8 points to 4137.

On NZX, shares on the rise included: AMP up 4c to 554, ANZ up 4c to 2055, Fisher & Paykel Appliances up 5c to 1350, Genesis Energy up 2c to 112, and Richmond up 2c to 312.

On the slide were: Contact Energy down 3c to 474, Fletcher Building down 3c to 395, Kirkcaldie & Stains down 8c to 325, Ports of Auckland down 10c to 750, Tower down 2c to 122, Tower rights down 1c to 31, and The Warehouse down 5c to 460.

- NZPA