NZ sharemarket falls early

Wednesday 23rd February 2011

The New Zealand sharemarket dropped in early trading, with key stock Telecom back to levels last seen more than two months ago.

Yesterday the NZX-50 index had ended the day down 23 points, against the backdrop of the early afternoon earthquake that devastated Christchurch, and following a 30-point fall on Monday. Today the index was down 8.51 points to 3350.2 around 10.15am.

Telecom (NZX: TEL ) shares fell 3c early to $2.13, while heavyweight Fletcher Building (NZX: FBU ) lost 3c to $8.45 after yesterday gaining 18c.

While Fletcher's Christchurch businesses were damaged yesterday, there is thought to be increased work potential for the building supplies and construction firm that is already taking a significant role in rebuilding the region after last September's quake.

Nuplex (NZX: NPX ) lost 2c to $3.61 after announcing before the market opened today that it had reached a settlement of matters raised in civil proceedings brought by the Securities Commission.

As part of the settlement Nuplex is to make available about $3 million as compensation for people who bought shares in a period in late-2008 and early-2009.

Sanford (NZX: SAN ) lost 6c to $4.99 and The Warehouse (NZX: WHS ) was down 6c to $3.40, both on low volume, while Xero (NZX: XRO ) lost 9c to $2.55, Sky City (NZX: SKC ) fell 4c to $3.25, Fisher & Paykel (NZX: FPA ) was down 2c to $3.02 and Infratil (NZX: IFT ) dropped 2c to $1.90. OceanaGold (NZX: OGC ) gained 10c to $3.85.

In the US, stocks fell sharply and oil prices spiked to their highest level in two years as unrest in worsened in Libya.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.4% to close at 12,213, the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2% to 1315, and the Nasdaq fell 2.7%, to 2756.

NZPA

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