The New Zealand share market has opened cautiously higher after another volatile session on overseas markets.
New Zealand's share market immediately fell two percent on opening Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
The benchmark top-50 index rose about 10 points to 8205 in early trading, with the stocks gaining in price outnumbering the falls by two-to-one.
The turbulence continued on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average closed down a handful of points after a rollercoaster session as it gyrated between strong gains and modest losses.
Stock markets in Europe were stronger overnight, but remained brittle in Asia yesterday.
Local analysts said they believed the market would remain volatile for some time, and investors should sit on the sidelines and not panic.
Reserve Bank acting governor Grant Spencer said he was not concerned about the volatility, but it was a warning sign of the nervousness as central banks start raising interest rates.
Signs that US stock market spooked
US stocks ran out of steam on Wednesday after an early surge, in a sign that investors are still spooked by the market's recent retreat and wary more fallout is to come.
The benchmark S&P 500 faded at the close after trading higher for much of the afternoon, following two days of big moves, including its largest single-day percentage loss in more than six years on Monday.
"Obviously there's a lot of concerned and nervous people. You might have had day traders trying to get out at the end of the day. Who knows what tomorrow brings," said Stephen Massocca, senior vice president at Wedbush Securities in San Francisco.
While Wednesday's trading lacked the wild swings of the prior two sessions, the Dow industrials moved in a roughly 500-point range, more than three times the average daily swing over the past year.
- RNZ / Reuters
