The New Zealand sharemarket fell in early trading today, with Fletcher Building and Telecom among the biggest losers.Fletcher Building stock fell 1.39 percent or 11 cents to 783 just before its annual meeting today.Telecom lost 7c, falling 3.18 percent, t
The New Zealand sharemarket fell in early trading today, with Fletcher Building and Telecom among the biggest losers.
Fletcher Building stock fell 1.39 percent or 11 cents to 783 just before its annual meeting today.
Telecom lost 7c, falling 3.18 percent, to 213 following yesterday's announcement that Telecom director Sachio Semmoto was resigning from the board due to health problems.
Around 10.25am the benchmark NZX-50 index lost 23,295 points, falling 0.7 percent, at 3291.765.
Infrastructure investor Infratil's shares fell 1c to 188 after reaching a two-year high of 194 yesterday morning on solid half-year results.
The company upgraded its annual earnings outlook and reported a 25 percent increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation and financial instruments to $258 million.
Contact Energy lost 1c to 594, Auckland Airport was down a cent at 211, while casino company Sky City lost 3c falling to 316.
Other stocks to decline included Nuplex, down 3c at 335, Freightway, down 3c at 301, and Ryman, off 2c at 217.
Among the few gainers, Methven edged up 2c to 180 while Sky TV also added 2c rising to 539.
On the other side of the ledger, Trustpower was unchanged at 745, NZX fell 2c to 151, and Tower fell 1c at 187.
In the United States, stocks fell broadly on Tuesday as worries of tighter credit in China and growing concerns over Europe's debt problems prompted investors to dump materials and tech shares.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 177.75 points, or 1.59 percent, to 11,024.22, the Standard&Poor's 500 Index shed 19.41 points, or 1.62 percent, to 1178.34, and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 39.32 points, or 1.56 percent, to 2474.50.
