Worries over China spread to NZ sharemarket

File photo / NZ Herald

The New Zealand sharemarket drifted lower yesterday as Asian markets wobbled on worries that China's latest move to control its economy could reduce demand in Asia.

The weakness came even though there was a strong lead from Wall St on Friday and the United States was absent last night due to the Martin Luther King public holiday.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed down 15.59 points, or 0.46 per cent, at 3354.30. Turnover was worth $65.2 million. There were 40 rises and 46 falls among the 118 stocks traded.

The Warehouse rose 3c to $3.59 after damping down speculation it may dump chief executive Ian Morrice, while revealing he had talked to the board last year about retiring this year. The company reiterated that disappointing trading results in the two months to January 2 were indicative of trading for retailers generally.

Michael Hill International fell 2c to 89c on the day a company associated with founder Michael Hill dispatched its offer to buy 5 per cent of the company at 90 cents a share.

Sam Stubbs, chief executive of Tower Investments said investors started taking on more risk at the end of last year even though weaker European economies rattled markets.

"This decision to embrace risk rather than take fright and run to the perceived safety of cash and bonds at the first sign of renewed trouble perhaps signals a sea-change in market psychology," he said.

Cavalier Carpets rose 11c to $3.25, Freightways rose 4c to $3.29 and New Zealand Oil and Gas rose 1c to 87c.

The leaders were weak, with Telecom down 2c to $2.26, Contact Energy down 2c to $6.36 and Fletcher Building down 4c to $7.90.

Xero gained 10c to $2.65, having fallen during the first two weeks of January after hitting a record $3.16 at the end of last year.

Charlies rose 1c to 20c and Scott Technology rose 1c to $1.36.

APN News fell 18c to $2.40 and Rakon fell 3c to $1.25. Auckland Airport fell 2c to $2.24 and Sanford fell 5c to $4.60. TrustPower fell 2c to $7.28.

In the United States, stocks gained before the weekend with a banks-led rally after encouraging financial results from JPMorgan.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 0.5 per cent to 11,787.38, the S&P rose 0.7 per cent to 1293.24, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7 per cent to 2755.30.

- NZPA