New Zealand seems to have become the land of the long white face, with all the doom and gloom around at the moment.
Even our esteemed leader Helen Clark appeared to have caught a dose of the jitters in New York last week. Obviously dismayed by our diving dollar, she suddenly started talking about joining hands with our big cousin across the ditch to form a common currency as a possible remedy.
She obviously hasn't been reading Australian papers. They are all talking about their loveless dollar sinking to new lows. Flick over to Europe and you get chapter and verse about the slumping euro.
About the only country not crying about its currency is the United States. But then the greenback is going from strength to strength at everyone's expense.
So yes our dollar is heading south. But we are in good company.
Helen Clark also commented about the poor form of the New Zealand sharemarket.
Certainly there is a feeling out there, both locally and overseas, that our market is a dog and needs to be fixed. Perhaps merging with Australia is the answer, some argue.
Whatever the merits of tying our fortunes to the Australian sharemarket, the view that our market is performing badly is a shallow one. Take the past three months for example - a period when this blanket of gloom settled over the country.
During this time the benchmark NZSE-40 moved up by just over 5 per cent. However, this is almost entirely due to the poor performance of Telecom - a company which comprises around 30 per cent of the total market capitalisation and has a strong overseas following.
Strip Telecom out of the index, and the local market has risen a very respectable 15 per cent in the past three months.
For the many who have caught rides on the likes of Fletcher Energy, The Warehouse Group, Baycorp and Air New Zealand B shares their gains have exceeded 40 per cent.
In the next tier down you see the likes of Waste Management, Auckland Airport, Sky City and Montana posting rises of more than 20 per cent.
Even the normally moribund agriculture sector has been lively. Tasman Agriculture and Wrightson's have been outstanding performers recently.
While this is just a snapshot, it shows the broader market is far from dead. And it is not just a case of companies rebounding after being oversold, though this is a factor.
Prices have risen on the back of strong earnings, good prospects and corporate activity, which has freed up more than $2 billion of funds for reinvestment.
The solid showing of the broader market is not a new phenomenon. Over the past nine years, for example, New Zealand's smaller companies index has posted annual double-digit gains whereas the Australian market has struggled to break even.
The tables are turned, however, when it comes to comparing the leaders. But it is not Telecom that is responsible here. Companies like Brierley Investments and Fletcher Challenge have kept a cap on our market. While all is not beer and skittles, the level of pessimism is overdone.
<i>Between the lines:</i> Doom, gloom ... but what about billions ready for reinvestment?
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