The New Zealand sharemarket followed on from yesterday's tumble to fall further in early trade, after oil prices charged to fresh 2-1/2 year highs as traders reacted to increasing violence in major producer Libya.
The New Zealand sharemarket followed on from yesterday's tumble to fall further in early trade, after oil prices charged to fresh 2-1/2 year highs as traders reacted to increasing violence in major producer Libya.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 9.35 points to 3372.59, having dropped 30 points yesterday.
Contact Energy dropped 4c to 615, after reporting half year underlying earnings after tax barely changed from a year earlier while revenue rose 12 percent. Yesterday its shares lost 6c.
Nuplex dropped 5c to 367, Auckland Airport dropped 2c to 224, Ebos Group fell 2c to 757, Fletcher Building lost 2c to 828, and Telecom slipped 1c to 219.
NZ Refining Co was up 5c early to 490, while Abano Healthcare added 4c to 470. Diligent Boardbooks gained 4c to 85 after reporting revenue up 66 percent in 2010, with total annualised licence fee income up 59 percent.
United States markets were closed for a holiday, while in Europe equities lost more than 1 percent on a combination of uncertainty over the future of the oil price, increasing signs that higher interest rates may be coming and more evidence of a surprisingly poor earnings season.
Together, the worries overshadowed reports of solid European economic growth.
Gold powered to its highest levels in seven weeks, above $US1400 an ounce, helped along by both inflation fears and risk aversion.
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