Shares closes lower, despite predicted rise in US

File photo / NZ Herald

The New Zealand sharemarket closed lower yesterday, even though futures prices indicated the United States sharemarket will rise on news of the death of terrorist Osama bin Laden when it opens.

"Markets across the globe received a bit of a boost in afternoon trade as news broke that US forces had killed Osama bin Laden. This will no doubt be plastered all over the world's media overnight and will ensure US trade commences on a buoyant note," Ben Potter, at IG Markets, said.

"However, like many euphoric bounces, they are often short-lived."

The benchmark NZX-50 index ending down 21.47 points, or 0.61 points, at 3497.86. Wall Street had risen on Friday but many regional Asian markets were closed for a holiday yesterday.

OceanaGold Corp ended down 5c, or down 1.39 per cent, at $3.55 after earlier rising 2.2 per cent.

Gold prices were at a record high at the end of last week but investors became nervous about commodity prices when the silver price plunged in Asia yesterday.

Telecom fell 2c to $2.15.5, Fletcher Building fell 12c to $9.07 and Contact Energy fell 7c to $5.88.

Pumpkin Patch fell 6c to $1.22 and Kathmandu Holdings fell 8c to $2.45, but The Warehouse rose 4c to $3.69.

SkyCity rose 4c to $3.60 and Michael Hill rose 1c to 92c. Abano Healthcare rose 4c to $4.54 and Vital Healthcare rose 1c to $1.13.

Nuplex fell a cent to $3.25 and Mainfreight eased 3c to $9.25.

In the US, stocks rose on Friday on strength from Caterpillar and other industrials, lifting the Dow and Nasdaq to their best monthly performance since December.

"Now that earnings are coming in, the investment community is telling you that once some of these negative issues subside - sovereign debt, Middle Eastern tensions - this market is going to rip," said Jason Weisberg, head of Seaport Securities.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.4 per cent to 12,810.54, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.2 per cent to 1363.61 and the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.04 per cent to 2873.54.

For the week, the Dow rose 2.4 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 2 per cent and the Nasdaq advanced 1.9 per cent. The blue-chip Dow average climbed 4 per cent for the month, while the S&P 500 rose 2.8 per cent and the Nasdaq gained 3.3 per cent.

- NZPA