NZ stocks: Market loses another 2.5pc

Photo / Kenny Rodger

The New Zealand sharemarket had another bad day today, down more than 2.5 per cent, suffering from a lack of buyers and an overall lack of confidence.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index opened at 2481.515 and experienced a big slide in the first hour after 10am before levelling out over the rest of the day to eventually close down 63.569 points, or 2.562 per cent, at 2417.946.

Turnover was worth $55.21 million. There were just 14 rises and 97 falls.

"The theme seems to be there is a lack of buyers in the market. There's a crisis of confidence really," said Hamilton, Hindin, Greene director Grant Williamson.

Buyers were being very cautious with their available funds and the market again hit companies with high debt levels. Coupled with poor overseas markets it meant the New Zealand sharemarket was reaching an unwanted milestone every day, he said.

The benchmark NZSX-50 was now at it lowest level since December 2003, when it was starting a rise that peaked in 2007.

"That's a lot of gain, a lot of years wiped off the value of the sharemarket in what you would deem to be a relatively short period of time," Mr Williamson said.

"There's still very few signs of turnarounds in these markets, particularly in America. The banking and insurance sectors are in a mess with further bailouts to probably happen in the future, so investors are struggling to see where things are going to turn around."

Some shares were probably oversold and it was time the bargain hunters probably came back in, he said. "But I don't know where they are going to get the confidence to do that."

Stocks sliding today were Hellaby Holdings, down 9c to 41, Nuplex down 14c to 104, Pike River Coal 8c to 72 and NZ Farming Systems Uruguay 5c to 45.

Rakon lost 6c to 63, Michael Hill International lost 4c to 47 and AMP was down 45c, or 7.69 per cent, to 540.

Telecom was down 4c to 226, Air NZ down 2c to 78 and The Warehouse was down 9c to 322.

The only top 50 stocks to rise today were NZ Oil & Gas, up 2c to 124, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, up 4c, or 1.19 per cent, to 339.

Meanwhile, Australian stocks clawed back two-thirds of their losses on Tuesday after the central bank decided to hold interest rates steady, which investors took as a sign the Australian economy was proving resilient.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 25.1 points at 3225 at 5.10pm, after earlier touching a five-year low of 3153.5.

In the US stocks slid to 12-year lows on Monday as a record $61.7 ($126) billion loss for AIG and another government bailout for the insurer heightened concerns about the extent of the damage to the financial system.

Disarray at banks around the world has pounded global stocks, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average to its first close below 7000 since May 1997. Selling of financial, energy and industrial stocks briefly drove the S&P below 700 during the session for the first time since October 1996.

The Dow slid 299.64 points, or 4.24 per cent, to 6763.29. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 34.27 points, or 4.66 per cent, to 700.82. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 54.99 points, or 3.99 per cent, to 1322.85.

Wall Street's fear gauge, the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, jumped 13.6 per cent to 52.65, ending at its highest level since January 20, the day of President Barack Obama's inauguration.

- NZPA