Shares in New Zealand closed 2.8 per cent down at a 11-month low on Monday following the United States' credit downgrade. New Zealand led a sell-off across the Asia Pacific region as the first market to open after Standard & Poor's rating agency on Friday downgraded the US long-term debt to AA+, one notch below the maximum AAA. The NZX 50 Index closed down 91 points, or 2.8 per cent, at 3,185.45, recovering slightly on bargain-hunting in late trading, after dropping as much as 3.5 per cent during the day. Within the index, 45 stocks fell, three rose, and two were unchanged. Monday's slide followed a fall of 3 per cent Friday, the NZX's worst trading day in two years, the German Press Agency "DPA" reported.
