KEY POINTS:
A dive in sharemarket activity as the havoc wreaked by the credit crunch accelerated during the past year is highlighted by new figures from the NZX.
The data show the total value traded on the NZX last month down 57 per cent on November 2007 to $1.45 billion, while the number of total trades dropped 25 per cent to 41,569.
The fall on the main sharemarket, the NZSX, in the value traded was a whopping 84 per cent, taking the amount down to $1.33b.
But on the NZDX debt market, the value traded rose 20 per cent to $122m.
By the end of November the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 33 per cent from a year earlier to 2711 points.
The latest figures show a much sharper decline in activity on the NZX than was apparent even one month earlier.
In October the total value traded on the NZX was down 20 per cent to $2.14b, while in the September quarter the decline was 14 per cent to $7.94b.
Even in an area that had been showing growth, November brought a small reversal, with the number of NZX market data terminals down 2 per cent from November 2007 to 10,170.
In October terminal numbers were still up 4 per cent from a year earlier, and in the September quarter the number was up 5 per cent.
The November figures also show new capital raised in the month up a paltry $6m to $2.83b, with new equity up $4m to $880m and new debt up $2m to $1.95b.
- NZPA
