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The sharemarket fell in opening trading after falling on Friday amid fears that the economy is heading for recession and the US share market is entering a bear phase.
The benchmark NZSX-50 eased 7.534 points to 3219.377 in early trading after losing 1.98 per cent, or 65 points on Friday. The Friday close was its lowest level since December 2005.
Wall Street did no better. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 106.91 points, or 0.93 per cent, to end at 11,346.51. During the session it dropped more than 20 per cent below its October 9 closing high.
"We are already in a bear market. You see fundamentally sound companies being punished for the overall performance of indexes," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in New Jersey.
In New Zealand, Telecom was down 5c at 354 in early trading. Contact Energy was up 1c at 821 as the bidder for its Australian parent talked up its offer at the weekend.
Infratil eased 1c to 183 and Fletcher Building was unchanged at 638, SkyCity eased 5c to 303 and SkyTV rose 4c to 429.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 4c to 234.
Data on Friday showing the economy shrank 0.3 per cent in the first quarter did nothing to help sentiment on the share market.
- NZPA
