The economic concerns surrounding Greece are expected to send most New Zealand and Australia stocks lower at Thursday's market opens. U.S. shares fell sharply on those concerns and continued weak economic data.
New Zealand's sharemarket closed higher for a second session on Wednesday.
The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 17.52 points or 0.50 percent at 3,506.4.
Trading volume was 64.1 million shares valued at NZ$148.5 million.
Among the session's most heavily traded stocks, Auckland International Airport closed up NZ$0.03, Air NZ was up .01, Contact Energy was up .02, Fletcher Building was up .01, PGG Wrightson was unchanged, Pumpkin Patch was down .01, Ryman Healthcare was up .04, SkyCity Entertainment was up .04 and Telecom Corp of NZ was up .06.
For the Australia-NZ dual-listed stocks, AMP was down .09, Australia and NZ Bank was down .01, APN News & Media was down .01, Goodman Fielder was up .01, Telstra was up .01 and Westpac Bank was down .30.
Across the Tasman Sea, the Australian sharemarket moved in the opposite direction, dragged down by comments from Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens. He said Australia is in the midst of a once-in-a-generation mining boom and the strongest business investment cycle and that inflation was likely to rise.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index declined 18.2 points or 0.40 percent while the broader All Ordinaries index was down 15.70 points or 0.34 percent at 4,635.40.
Trading volume was 2.6 billion shares valued at A$5.57 billion.
In the mining sector, BHP Billiton was down A$0.16, Rio Tinto was down .13, Fortescue Metals was up .04 and OZ Minerals was down .18.
The major banks were mixed, with Australia and NZ Bank down one cent, Commonwealth Bank of Australia was down .13, National Australia was up .17 and Westpac was down .30. Macquarie Group was down .11.
U.S. markets moved sharply lower on Wednesday, weighed down by Greek debt worries and weak economic data. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 178.84 points or 1.48 percent at 11,897.27, the Nasdaq Composite was down 47.26 points or 1.76 percent at 2,631.46 and the S&P 500 index was down 22.45 points or 1.74 percent at 1,265.42.
The other major Asia/Pacific region markets closed mixed on Wednesday.
In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 average closed up 26.53 points or 0.28 percent at 9,574,32.
Hong Kong's hang Seng index was down 152.23 points or 0.68 percent at 22,343.77.
The Shanghai Composite index in China was down 24.61 points or 0.90 percent at 2,705.43.
In India, the BSE 40/SENSEX index closed down 176.42 points or 0.96 percent at 18,132.24.
The Jakarta Composite index in Indonesia was up 20.98 points or 0.56 percent at 1,794.25.
South Korea's KOSPI/Seoul Composite index was up 9.70 points or 0.47 percent at 2,086.53.
The Taiwan Weighted Index was up 2.24 points or 0.03 percent at 8,831.45.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.