24 Jul 2012

Offshore markets down

8:36 am on 24 July 2012

Stocks on Wall Street fall on Monday after McDonald's reported a lower-than-expected profit due to a slower global economy and a stronger US dollar.

Separately, more regions in Spain look set to follow Valencia in tapping a government programme to keep its finances afloat.

Meanwhile, Spain and Italy have temporarily banned short-selling of shares - where investors make money by betting on falling share prices - after markets fell sharply on fears the country may need a full bailout.

The Dow Jones Index fell 101 points, or 0.8%, to 12,721. The Nasdaq Composite was down 35 points, or 1.2%, at 2890.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index in London fell 2.1%, the DAX in Frankfurt was down 3.2% and the CAC-40 in Paris was down 2.9%.

The Nikkei index in Tokyo fell 162 points to 8508.

The Australian 200 Index fell 70 points, or 1.7%, to 4129 and the NZX 50 rose 1 point to close at 3465.

At 8.25am on Tuesday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 78.98 US cents, 76.83 Australian cents, 50.85 pence, 61.86 yen and 0.6506 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 71.74.

Brent crude oil was trading at $US104.67 per barrel and gold was at $1575.85 per ounce.