NZ sharemarket flat as investors wait on US debt moves

NZPA

Friday 29th July 2011

The New Zealand sharemarket was flat early as investors wait for the result of a key vote by Congress on a deal to avoid a United States debt default.

Facing uncertain prospects, Republicans delayed the anticipated vote on their bill to raise the debt ceiling until later in the evening (local time).

The reason for the delay was not immediately clear, but House Speaker John Boehner has struggled to line up support for the measure as some conservatives have said it does not do enough to cut spending.

Earlier, US stocks had faded to end mostly lower, amid investor scepticism that a default would be avoided.

Around 10.20am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down just 0.1 point to 3396.69, after yesterday falling 15.6 points.

Contact Energy was down 3c early to 515, Sky TV lost 2c to 576, and Telecom slipped 0.5c to 264.5. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare lifted 5c to 255, Mainfreight gained 5c to 1040, and Fletcher Building was up 1c to 814.

In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average ended down 0.5 percent at 12,240.11, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 0.3 percent at 1300.67, and the Nasdaq Composite Index finished up 0.1 percent at 2766.25

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