(RTTNews) - New Zealand share market opened lower on Wednesday, following a triple-digit loss overnight on Wall Street, where the U.S. stocks gave back a large portion of the previous session’s big rally.

The benchmark NZX 50 index was down 44.74 points or 1.52% to 2,907.27 shortly after the market opened for the day, while the broader NZX All Capital Index lost 38.29 points or 1.28% to 2,955.36.

The New Zealand stock market closed sharply higher on Tuesday, extending its gains for the third consecutive trading session. The benchmark NZX 50 index closed up 62.10 points or 2.15% at 2952.20 after rallying nearly 3% on Monday. The broader NZX All Capital index advanced 53.53 points or 1.82% to finish at 2,993.66.

Overseas, stocks on Wall Street moved sharply lower in Tuesday’s trading despite a mid-afternoon rally. After turning in a strong performance in the previous session, stocks saw substantial weakness in the day’s trading, with the major averages ending the session in negative territory in spite of a couple of recovery attempts.

Oil fell again on the New York Mercantile Exchange in Tuesday’s trading on the final day of the November contract. Light sweet crude for November delivery ended at $70.89, down $3.36 on the session. Prices briefly touched as low as $69.77.

On the currency front, the New Zealand dollar was buying US61.44c by 8 am on Wednesday, below the US61.78c mark at 5pm on Tuesday.

In Wednesday’s economic news, Statistics New Zealand issues its report on new visitor arrivals for September at 21:45 GMT. The August report showed a 0.5 percent decline in visitor arrivals on month.

In the early trading on the New Zealand stock market on Tuesday, the country’s top ranked share Telecom dropped 2.46%, while the second ranked Contact Energy lost 1.99%. Fletcher Building, the third best stock, was down 1.55%.

In the retail sector Hallenstein Glasson remained unchanged, while jewelry retailer Michael Hill International added 2.86%. The Warehouse gave up 3.46%, as Pumpkin Patch eased 1.79%.

In the energy sector Vector fell 0.50%, while TrustPower remained unchanged in the day’s early trading.

Among the dual listed issues AMP and APN News & Media remained unchanged, as Australia and NZ Banking Corp slipped 1.90%, Lion Nathan eased 0.31, while Telstra fell 1.05%. Westpac Bank was down 2.67%.

Among other notable stocks, Nuplex dropped 2.04%, as Infratil gave up 0.97%. Methven, Mainfreight and Sky Network Television remained unchanged. Steel & Tube Holdings eased 0.33%, as Sky City fell 0.88%. Fisher & Paykel Appliances slipped 1.49%, while Fisher & Paykel Healthcare declined 2.45%.

Among the major losers in the early trading were - Auckland International Airport by 1.08%, Freightways by 1.59%, Goodman Fielder by 4.12%, Guinness Peat Group by 1.96%, New Zealand Oil & Gas by 0.81%, The New Zealand Refining Company by 1.64%, PGG Wrightson by 1.14%, Pike River Coal by 3.52%, Ryman Healthcare by 1.24% and Sanford by 0.72%.

Apart from Michael Hill International, only Air New Zealand posted gains on Wednesday morning among the shares listed under the NZX 50 index. Air New Zealand’s shares were up by 1.18% in the day’s early trading.

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Posted in Categories: Australia, New Zealand, Releases, Stocks, USA.

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