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The New Zealand sharemarket slid in early trade today, following another poor session for equities in the United States.
Leading stocks were looking shaky early, with Telecom down 5c to 236, Contact Energy off 10c to 715 and Fletcher Building losing 5c to 555.
Dual-listed stocks were showing sizeable losses with ANZ down 25c to 1875, Lion Nathan down 40c to 1000, and Westpac losing 80c early to 2220.
Around 10.20am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 23.18 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 2776.38. Yesterday it lost 38.3 points, giving up most of its gains from Monday's promising start to the week.
Among other shares to lose ground early today were Auckland Airport which was down 3c to 173, NZX 15c to 590, Pike River Coal 5c to 97, and Sky City 6c to 300.
In the US, Wall Street took another clobbering as the reality hit investors that few industries are safe from the consumer spending slump - whether they're building homes, making cars or selling coffee.
In preliminary closing figures, the Dow Jones industrial average shed 2 per cent, the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2.2 per cent, with the Nasdaq composite index also down 2.2 per cent.
Production cuts at aluminium maker Alcoa, a dismal outlook from Tyco International and weak results at Starbucks underscored fears the economic slowdown will deepen.
Signs the Chinese economy is faltering heightened concerns about the breadth of the global slump, quelling investors' appetite for risky assets.
Selling was widespread, with commodity-related shares tumbling as resources from oil to silver were stung by fears that economic gloom will curb demand and as the US dollar firmed.
- NZPA