KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket reacted sourly to declines on Wall St on Friday but not as sharply as other markets.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index plunged 1.45 per cent today, down 51.5 points to 3496.49. But total turnover was a thin $66 million with Australia out for its Queen's Birthday weekend.
"It's sad but not as sad as some of the other markets experienced," David Price of Forsyth Barr said, noting that European markets were down 2.5 per cent and the Dow fell 3 per cent on oil prices and higher than expected US unemployment.
A slew of bad data and anaemic growth forecast s were also affecting investor morale but New Zealand was not alone with rising fuel costs and inflation, Mr Price added.
"There's a lot of uncertainty at the moment and the least path of resistance seems to be on the downside."
Stocks were soggy across the board, but top stock Telecom was largely unaffected, down just a cent to 385.
The dramatic jump in oil prices appeared to hit transport-related stocks, with Air NZ sliding 5c to 112, Mainfreight down 6c to 729, and Freightway down 10c to 325.
Contact Energy fell 21c to 864, apparently due to rising concerns of a power shortage. Even though Contact's Otahuhu B station is back in action, the company's generation was "mismatched in terms of where the generation is, and pricing," Mr Price said.
Fletcher Building fell 18c to 737, but Mr Price said investors were possibly taking gloomy house building and price figures too much to heart.
"People are tying house prices to Fletcher Building as opposed to looking at the bigger picture...There's a lot of infrastructure work which is 60 per cent of their workload."
Infratil dropped 11c to 208, although that was partly due to a 3.75c dividend. Sky City fell 11c to 357 after announcing it would build a A$50m resort in Darwin and following Friday's announcement it would keep its poorly performing cinema chain.
Against the tide, New Zealand Oil and Gas rose 3c to 160, Tourism Holdings was up 4c to 169, and Pike River rose 7c to 208.
The best performer was miner OceanaGold which rose 11 per cent or 20c to 200 on thin trade.
Falls outnumbered rises 88 to 19 on 125 stocks traded.
On Wall St the Dow had its worst day in 15 months, after May unemployment figures rose to their highest in 22 years.
US crude oil's dramatic $11 jump, its biggest-ever one-day spike in dollar terms, also fuelled inflationary and growth concerns , renewing fears of 1970s-style "stagflation" - high inflation and stagnant growth.
The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 394.64 points, or 3.13 per cent, to end at 12,209.81. The S&P 500 slid 43.37 points, or 3.09 per cent, to finish the day at 1360.68.
The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 75.38 points, or 2.96 per cent, to close at 2474.56.
- NZPA
