Market commentary

WELLINGTON: The New Zealand sharemarket, comprising a lot of defensive dividend stocks, remained relatively calm in the face of incredible volatility overnight on Wall Street — falling just over 1%.

The leading United States indices, with its highgrowth stocks valued on future earnings, plunged by as much as 5% — after losing all the good gains and more from the day before.

The steady S&P/NZX 50 Index even increased later in day, with US futures slightly up, and closed at 11,609.38, down 138.19 points or 1.18%. The index was down 2.2% for the week and nearly 11% so far this year — certainly in bear market territory.

There were 120 decliners and just 22 gainers over the whole on volume of 334.35 million share transactions worth $144.79 million.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 1063 points or 3.12 percent to 32,997.97; S&P 500 declined 3.56% to 4146.87; and the technologyladen Nasdaq Composite fell 4.99% to 12,317.69.

They were the biggest singleday falls this year as investors were spooked by a stagnating economy and inflated prices (stagflation) while the central bank pushed ahead with interest rate rises.

Shane Solly, portfolio manager with Harbour Asset Management, said the local market was calm relative to the storm offshore.

‘‘It’s a bear market and things will be choppy. There was no sign of panic here . . . our market has the right mix in a challenging environment,’’

Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was one of the few gainers, rising 45c or 2.09% to $21.95 after an Australian broker made a buy recommendation. Mainfreight gained 43c to $80.29. Most of the other leading stocks were down. Auckland International Airport declined 23c to $7.65; Ebos Group shed 58c to $41.80; Spark decreased 9c or 1.81% to $4.89; Chorus lost 9.5c to $7.185 —