The New Zealand sharemarket plunged in early trading, losing nearly 2 percent in the first 15 minutes after opening.Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 58.72 points, or 1.9 percent, to 2971.42, as it caught up with carnage on overseas marke
The New Zealand sharemarket plunged in early trading, losing nearly 2 percent in the first 15 minutes after opening.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 58.72 points, or 1.9 percent, to 2971.42, as it caught up with carnage on overseas markets after missing the damage due to yesterday's public holiday.
Investors lost confidence in global economic recovery in the wake of poor US jobs data on Friday (local time), along with concerns that Europe's economies are being hit by fiscal austerity measures and even China's boom may be topping out.
Comments from Hungarian officials suggested the country could face a Greek-style debt crisis, although the Hungarian government later stressed that the country was not in the same situation as Greece and would meet budget deficit targets set in an aid deal with the International Monetary Fund and European Union.
The NZX-50 board was a sea of red ink early today, as prices fell for a large majority of shares in the index.
Telecom new all-time low
Fletcher Building fell 23c early to 795, Nuplex dropped 16c to 270, Ebos Group lost 10c to 595, Contact Energy was down 8c to 567, Fisher&Paykel Healthcare lost 7c to 310, Trustpower was down 7c to 713, The Warehouse lost 6c to 350, NZ Oil&Gas was down 5c to 135, and Telecom (NZX: TEL) lost 4c to 182 - a new all time low.
In the US, the S&P 500 fell to its lowest close in seven months, as industrials and technology shares fell and investors stayed on their heels after last week's payrolls figure.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.2 percent to 9816.49, the Standard&Poor's 500 Index slid 1.4 percent to 1050.47, and the Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 2 percent to 2173.90.
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