The local sharemarket yesterday shrugged off the worst of a fresh bout of Wall St anxiety about the credit crunch.
But the New Zealand dollar, whose fortunes have largely been driven by the performance of US equity markets, fell as far as US68.70c before closing on US69.30c comparedto Tuesday's local close of US70.60c.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged heavily in afternoon trading on Tuesday, amid credit fears and concerns about US economic growth.
The index finished 2.10 per cent lower after the Federal Reserve said "strains in financial markets" could dent economic performance.
Telecom holding its ground was the key to the local market's resilience, said Shane Solly of Mint Asset Management. Telecom closed 7c higher after a release from the Commerce Commission was judged benign by investors.
Also on the positive side was the reporting season which was yielding reasonably good results, Solly said.
The negative sentiment from Wall St initially weighed heavily on the local market, with the benchmark NZX-50 at one point falling by as much as 1.4 per cent. However it recovered through the session to end at 4084.2, down just 0.41 per cent for the day.
Westpac currency strategist Michael Gordon said the New Zealand dollar's tone yesterday was set in overseas markets, as more stories about damaging credit exposures weighed on US markets. "Equity, credit and forex markets are all moving together. It's either a day of bad news or day without, but one way or another the kiwi's tending to trade off that."
