The New Zealand share market again continued to slide downwards this morning, continuing the week's trend.
The benchmark NZX-50, which closed yesterday at 2621.005, was down 15.4 points, or 0.588 per cent, to 2605.605 in the opening minutes of trading this morning.
Auckland Airport, which reported a 79per cent cut to half year profits on investment property write downs, lost 1c to $1.90, although on low volumes.
Nuplex lost 10c to $1.75, ANZ Bank lost 29c to $15.11 and Telecom lost 6c to $2.42.
PGG Wrightson, which took a 22c hit yesterday after speculation about a scrap with Silver Fern Farms and a possible write down, dropped another 3c to 95c.
Stocks gaining ground were Tourism Holdings, up 2c to 58c, Rakon, up 2c to 77c, and Tower, up 4c to $1.60.
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US stocks declined on Wall Street today as President Barack Obama released details of his US$75 ($150) billion mortgage relief plan and investors remained uncertain about the prospects for the economy.
Obama's announcement of the plan comes a day after he signed into law a US$787 billion economic stimulus plan he hopes will help revive the economy.
But the markets were equivocal. As late afternoon approached, the key indicators were slightly positive, before turning lower once again. With 20 minutes of trade to go, the Dow Jones industrial average was DOWN 15.21 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 7537.39.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down by 2.54 points, or by 0.32 per cent, to 786.63, and the Nasdaq composite index was 1.92 points higher, or by 0.15 per cent, to 1,468.74.
European stock markets slipped, with the London FTSE 100 index losing 0.68 per cent, or 27.3 points, to close at 4,006.83.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei average shed 1.45 per cent to hit its lowest close in nearly four months as financial shares sank amid worries about European banks and credit concerns hurt property firms.
The Nikkei fell 111.07 points in moderate trade to 7,534.44, its lowest finish since Oct 27.
In Australia the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 51.1 points, or 1.48 per cent, at 3,413.2, while the broader All Ordinaries dropped 45.3 points, or 1.33 per cent, to 3,366.9.
