A roundup of trading on major world markets:
NEW YORK – Stocks closed marginally lower overnight as investors remained concerned that a deal to cut Greece’s debt might fall through.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 33.07 points or 0.3% to 12,675.75, while the S&P 500 index was 1.35 points, or 0.1% lower at 1,314.65.
On the other hand, the Nasdaq composite rose 2.47 points, or 0.1%, to 1,314.65.
A deal with bondholders is considered critical to the stability of Greece and Europe’s financial system in general.
Greece currently has far more debt than it can ever pay back and investors fear that if the country defaults it could trigger a financial panic.
Time is running out for politicians and banks to mend the problem; Greece has several billions euros in debt due in March.
LONDON – A game of brinkmanship between European leaders and Greek bondholders drove stock markets lower on Tuesday as investors worried that a deal needed to cut Athens’ mountain of debt might fall through.
After 10 hours of talks that stretched into early Tuesday, the finance ministers of the countries that use the euro drew a line in the sand: Greece will pay less than four per cent interest on the new bonds that creditors will get in a swap meant to cut Greece’s debt by about 100 billion euros ($A124.17 billion).
In France, the CAC-40 fell 0.5 per cent to close at 3,322.6, while Germany’s DAX dropped 0.3 per cent, ending at 6,419.2. The FTSE index of leading British shares moved down 0.5 per cent to 5,751.90.
HONG KONG – Many Asia markets were closed for the Lunar New Year. However, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock rose 0.2 per cent to 8,785.33, despite the central bank cutting growth forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 2012 and the following year because of a slowdown in overseas demand and the strong yen.
WELLINGTON – Shares in power company Contact Energy fell to an eight-and-a-half year low, pacing the New Zealand stock market lower and snapping a five-day streak of gains.
The NZX50 index fell 26.85 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 3,268.16.
Within the index, 24 stocks fell, 17 fell, and nine were unchanged.
Turnover was $97.7 million.
