Wellington - The New Zealand stock market - the first to open and close every day - finished down again Monday after rallying in nervous trading.

The benchmark NZX 50 index, which slumped 4.7 per cent to 2,805.31 on Friday, ended the day Monday 0.82 per cent lower on 2,782.39.

Trading began the day in negative territory but the index recovered to be up by more than 1 per cent by noon before falling again.

Banking shares were among the stocks to rise following the government's announcement Sunday of a scheme to guarantee all savers' deposits, designed to reassure local investors spooked by the worsening international financial crisis.

Assuming a government liability of up to 150 billion New Zealand dollars (about 90 billion US dollars), Finance Minister Michael Cullen said that New Zealand had been in the uncomfortable position of being the only Western country not offering any guarantee on bank deposits following Australia's move to introduce a scheme. (dpa)