NZX falls on virus blues but outperforms ASX

The NZX closed at just under 3 per cent down yesterday after another rocky day.

Sharemarkets were hit again by coronavirus fears, but suffered a double-whammy after oil prices crashed by 30 per cent.

Hamilton Hindin Greene director Grant Williamson said the Saudis moved on the price at the weekend after failing to cut a deal with its allies. The drop has had a very large effect on Australia, which has some large oil producing companies.

Despite the dip, the NZX outperformed most other Asian markets, he said. ‘‘We currently have Australia down 6.5 per cent so our current level of down 3 per cent actually in relative terms is not too bad,’’ he said.

The NZX came under some selling pressure during the day as Asian markets began to show their weakness, he said.

The silver lining was the 4 per cent gain made by Fisher and Paykel Healthcare. ‘‘That’s been positive and very well the sort of equipment that could very well be required in the treatment of the virus patients, so probably understandable why that stock has done so well,’’ Williamson said.

Wall Street was likely to lose significant ground when markets opened on Tuesday, at least initially, he said.

‘‘The futures, which is a guide on where the markets might be, is showing down 5 per cent. It will be interesting to see what American investors do after that.’’

Also weighing on the NZX was the performance of Wall Street on Friday night. The Dow Jones index closed down 1 per cent, despite a late rally, and the tech-rich Nasdaq index also dropped 1.9 per cent.

Both markets are now down 12 per cent on their February peaks, putting them further into ‘‘correction’’ territory.

Jeremy Sullivan, analyst at Hamilton Hindin Green, said the market’s correction in the US had been the quickest in its history. While New Zealand was faring better, it was also down 7.5 per cent since the turmoil began in late February. – additional reporting AAP.