KEY POINTS:
Bad news hit Fisher & Paykel Appliances hard this morning, with the laundry and kitchen appliance maker's shares plunging 35 per cent in 15 minutes.
The company had earlier in the morning announced it expected its net profit to fall by as much as 54 per cent to between $25 million and $30 million , compared with a net profit for the year to March 2008 of $54.2 million.
On the New Zealand stock exchange Fisher & Paykel's share price of $1 immediately dropped to 65c in the opening minutes of trading.
That helped drag the benchmark NZX-50 index down 6.538 points, or 0.238 per cent, from 2750.774 to 2744.592 at 10.15am.
Other stocks were small movers by comparison. Tower lost 3c to $1.52, Sky TV shed 5c to 42 and Air New Zealand lost 1c to 93.
The Warehouse shed 4c, or 1.15 per cent, to $3.45.
In positive territory were Tourism Holdings, up 2c to 70, Goodman Property rose 1c to 91 and Auckland Airport was up 2c to $1.93.
Telecom rose 2c to $2.65.
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In the United States stocks ended lower Friday, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average to its lowest close since last November and leaving it with a weekly decline of 5.2 per cent.
The Dow fell 82.35, or 1.04 per cent, to 7,850.41. It was the lowest close since November 20, when the blue-chip index settled at a five-and-a-half month low of 7552.29.
Broader stock indicators also fell. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 8.35, or 1.00 per cent, to 826.84, and the Nasdaq composite index decreased 7.35, or 0.48 per cent, to 1,534.36. The S&P 500 ended the week down 4.8 per cent, and the Nasdaq finished the week down 3.6 per cent.
US markets are closed on Monday for Presidents Day.
- NZPA
