KEY POINTS:
Profit takers and a negative steer from Wall Street sent the sharemarket lower in early trading today after its biggest rise of the year yesterday, spurred by the Reserve Bank interest rate cut.
US stocks tumbled more than 2 per cent after a report showing yet another drop in US home sales prompted investors to take profits in financial shares, which had rallied over the past week.
The Dow fell the most in a month, as the rising price of oil compounded worries about the economy.
The jump in crude spurred unease that the recent sharp declines may have run their course.
The local market was down 0.8 per cent at 10.20am today following successive rises of 2.7 and 1.8 per cent.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index, which jumped 144 points over those two days, was down 26 points to 3261.
Fletcher Building continued its roller coaster rise, losing 21c today to 670 after jumping 36c yesterday.
No 2 stock Contact Energy was down 2c to 845 while market leader Telecom, which yesterday fell 3c, was down another 4c to 343.
Air NZ was down 4c to 124 on the new fuel price worries and following its strong run up. Some of the other currency-sensitive stocks were pegged back after strong gains - Fisher & Paykel Appliances lost 6c to 205 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 3c to 259.
However, Cavalier Corp continued to spurt ahead, rising 7c to 235.
Among the smaller stocks, Genesis Research lost 2c to 13c.
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In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 283.10 points, or 2.43 per cent, to close at 11,349.28. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 29.65 points, or 2.31 per cent, to 1252.54, while the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 45.77 points, or 1.97 per cent, to 2280.11.
- NZPA
