Business

NZ sharemarket ends trading week lower

21:56 pm on 24 April 2009

The New Zealand sharemarket was slighly lower on Friday, down 2 points to 2656 on turnover of $97 million.

Top stocks were mixed. Telecom lost 4 cents to $2.59, Contact Energy was down 2c to $5.58 but Fletcher Building gained 18c to $6.32.

The Australian share market was also down. At the 1615 AEST close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had fallen 30.7 points, or 0.82%, to 3712.3, while the broader All Ordinaries was down 27.5 points, or 0.74%, at 3668.3.

Japanese stocks ended the week lower. The Nikkei-225 index fell 139.02 points or 1.57% to 8,707.99. The broader Topix index of all first section shares declined 9.45 points, or 1.13%, to 830.05.