WELLINGTON, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand share market fell on Wednesday after China said it would raise banks' reserve requirements.

    The share market closed 0.43 percent lower with the benchmark NZSX-50 down 14.1 points at 3,276.2, and a turnover of 61.58 million NZ dollars (45.6 million U.S. dollars).

    Among the leading stocks, Fletcher Building was down 2 cents at 8.45 NZ dollars, while Telecom fell 2 cents at 2.52 NZ dollars. Contact Energy was unchanged at 6.32 NZ dollars.

China to raise deposit reserve requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage points

    BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, announced on Tuesday to raise the deposit reserve requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage points from Jan. 18 this year.

    The ratio at small financial institutions such as the rural credit cooperatives would remain unchanged to support the agriculture sector, the PBOC said in a statement. Full story

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis