NZ shares down as fear roils global markets

Photo / Paul Estcourt

The New Zealand sharemarket dived this morning, as fear roiled global markets, with stocks sinking and the US dollar making its biggest one-day gain in nearly two years against most currencies.

The benchmark NZX-50 index is now down 39 points, at 2996, a fall of 1.3 per cent.

Market heavyweight Fletcher Building is down 15c, with its shares trading at $7.42 each. Contact Energy shares are down 4c at $5.65 and Telecom shares are down 4c at $2.00 each. Sky City is down 5c at $3.01.

Commodity prices fell, with oil prices sliding 2.8 per cent, on fears that a global economic slowdown led by the United States and China would reduce demand for raw materials.

Fears about the sustainability of the global economic recovery increased after the US Federal Reserve announced this week it would use cash from maturing mortgage bonds it holds to buy more government debt, maintaining the current level of monetary stimulus.

Adding to investors' woes was data showing a slowdown in Chinese investment and factory output growth, coupled with a Bank of England downgrade of its growth forecast and a dovish tone from its governor, Mervyn King.

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In the United States, stocks erased the year's gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 2.5 per cent at 10,378.83, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 2.8 per cent at 1089.47, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 3 per cent at 2208.63.

The Nasdaq was down 2.7 per cent for the year, while the S&P 500 was down 2.3 per cent and the Dow was down 0.5 per cent.

- NZPA