Kiwi firms sucked into global chaos

The market value of New Zealand's biggest companies dropped sharply this week, despite their fortunes having no direct links to the debt woes of the United States or Europe.

As markets around the world plummeted - in some cases by more than 6 per cent - the shares of Fletcher Building, Telecom and Contact Energy also came tumbling down.

Fletcher Building shares shed 28c yesterday, falling 3.7 per cent to $7.20. The stocks of New Zealand's second-biggest company, Telecom, closed at $2.37, down 11.5c or 4.6 per cent. Contact Energy's share price dropped 1.8 per cent, or 9c, closing at $4.82.

The share price slide is something of a turnaround, particularly for Telecom, which had relished steady market gains since it won the bulk of the Government's ultra-fast broadband contracts in May. Most of those gains have now slipped away.

Fletcher Building is in a similar position. Its value has dropped even though US debt problems are unlikely to throw it from the box seat it will have during the Christchurch rebuilding.

Market commentator Arthur Lim said the drop in value was driven in part by foreign investors who were simply looking to pull their money out of certain markets, regardless of the economic position of the companies involved.

"A lot of Telecom and Fletcher Building [shares] are owned by overseas investors and they tend to look at equity from a global perspective."

Lim called the investor flight a "market panic". Telecom and Fletcher Building shares were also being sold because they were easily tradeable.

Tyndall Investment portfolio manager James Lindsay said the sales were the result of investors looking to rid themselves of risky assets in exchange for safer bets, such as government bonds.

"Shares are seen as relatively risky assets and when investors want security, they sell more risky assets. Everyone is very much risk averse at the moment," he said.

This risk aversion was being driven by the uncertainty of world markets. Lindsay said the US-based volatility index, or "fear gauge", which measures short-term market volatility, was at its highest point for some time.