(RTTNews) - Higher opens are expected Friday for New Zealand and Australia markets, on the heels of Wall Street’s major gains overnight. U.S. markets rose sharply after several days of losses, with traders encouraged by data showing 3.5 percent GDP growth, signaling an end to the American recession

New Zealand’s sharemarket declined on Thursday, but by a smaller percentage than others in the Asia/Pacific region.

The benchmark NZX-50 index fell 7.2 points or 0.2 percent to close at 3,195.6.

The NZ Stock Exchange posted trading volume of 60.4 million shares valued at NZ$98.2 million.

Trading opened an hour after the Reserve Bank of NZ announced that it would leave interest rates on hold at 2.5 percent, and said rates would likely not be raised until the 2nd half of 2010.

Among the session’s most actively traded stocks, Auckland International Airport shares were down NZ$0.01, AMP NZ Office Trust was down .01, Fletcher Building was down .06, Fisher & Paykel Appliances was unchanged, F & P Healthcare was up .10, Goodman Property Trust was down .01, Kiwi Income Property Trust was down .01, SkyCity Entertainment was down .02 and Telecom Corp of NZ was up .04.

For the Australia-NZ dual-listed stocks, Telstra was up .02, Australia and NZ Bank was down .50, Wespac Bank was down .60, AMP was down .17 and Pan Pac was down two cents.

In Australia, the sharemarket closed sharply lower, following up on the negative lead from Wall Street.

At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 110.4 points or 2.4 percent at 4,574.7 and the broader All Ordinaries index was down 112.1 points or 2.4 percent at 4,575.2.

Trading volume totaled 3.57 billion shares valued at A$7.32 million.

Declining stocks far outnumbered advancers 1,083 to 177 with 242 unchanged.

The financial sector was a weak spot, as Australia and NZ Banking Group reported an 11 percent decline in full year net earnings and saying the Australian market is nearing a peak in its bad debt cycle. ANZ shares declined A$0.50 or 2.1 percent, Commonwealth Bank of Australia was down $1.58, National Australia Bank was down .78 and Westpac was down .60.

In the mining sector, BHP Billiton was down $1.27 or 3.3 percent while rival Rio Tinto shed $3.12 or nearly 5 percent. Fortescue Metals was down a dime and OZ Minerals was down .06.

Among the gold miners, Newcrest Mining was down $1.45 or 4.3 percent, Lihir Gold was down .08 and Newmont Mining fell .15.

The retailers were lower as well, with Woolworths down .17, Wesfarmers down .10, David Jones was down .17 and Harvey Norman was down .11.

Overseas, U.S. stocks rebounded sharply Thursday after the government reported a technical end to the nation’s recession with data showing third quarter gross domestic product expanded at a 3.5 percent rate. A half hour before Wall Street’s closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 188.86 points or 1.93 percent at 9,951.55, the Nasdaq Composite index was ahead by 38.17 points or 1.85 percent at 2,098.58 and the Standard & Poor’s 500 was up 23.04 points or 2.21 percent at 1,065.67.

All of the other major Asia/Pacific region markets finished in the red on Thursday.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Average declined 103.95 points or 1.83 percent to close at 9,891.10.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 496.59 points or 2.28 percent at 21,264.99.

In China, the Shanghai Composite index was down 70.86 points or 2.34 percent at 2,960.47.

The SENSEX/BSE-30 index in India was down 230.77 points or 1.42 percent at 16,052.72.

Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite index was down 11.28 points or 0.48 percent at 2,344.03.

In South Korea, the KOSPI/Seoul Composite index dropped 23.86 points or 1.48 percent to 1,585.85.

The Taiwan Weighted Index was down 178.26 points or 2.37 percent at 7.355.69.

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

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