The New Zealand sharemarket dropped in early trading, following falls in overseas markets.Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 8.82 points to 3045.38, on top of a 14-point fall yesterday which reversed two-thirds of Monday's 21-point gain.Du
The New Zealand sharemarket dropped in early trading, following falls in overseas markets.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 8.82 points to 3045.38, on top of a 14-point fall yesterday which reversed two-thirds of Monday's 21-point gain.
Dual-listed banks led the falls with ANZ down 72c to 2845 and Westpac losing 46c to 2880. Their decline came after a downgrade of French bank BNP Paribas by Fitch hit Europe's banking stocks overnight, leading to the end of a nine-day rally.
Contact Energy lost 6c early to 588, Fletcher Building was down 2c to 810, Fisher&Paykel Healthcare dropped 2c to 314, Freightways slipped 2c to 281, Hallenstein Glasson lost 2c to 351, and Nuplex was down 2c to 304, although Telecom was up 1c to 191.
In the United States stocks fell more than 1 percent in yet another late-day selloff as unexpectedly poor housing figures and the puncture of a key technical level sapped buying interest.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1.4 percent to 10,293.45, the Standard&Poor's 500 Index fell 1.6 percent to 1095.34, and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 1.2 percent to 2261.80.
