KEY POINTS:
Shares were dumped again today as the local market was hit by the double whammy of international catch-up from the Waitangi Day holiday and another negative Wall Street session.
Goldman Sachs JBWere broker investment adviser Humphrey Sherratt said today's damage wasn't as bad at it could have been given US stocks were dumped nearly 3 per cent on Tuesday in the biggest one-day fall on Wall Street for 11 months.
US stocks fell another half per cent today as concern about recession lingered.
He said the good thing was that volume was light and investors were holding off rather than selling in panic.
"Even so, the selling was across the board. There isn't much that isn't red," Mr Sherratt added.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index closed down 53.81 points to 3636.2.
Lead stock Telecom, which tomorrow is expected to report a 25 per cent drop in its half year net profit, helped limit the market's fall by holding steady on 411 aided by a 9c rise to 511 by Australian counterpart Telstra.
No 2, Fletcher Building, expected to be hit hard by the downturn in US building starts, compensated with a 29c slide to 953 while No 3 Contact Energy was down 4c to 773.
Auckland Airport fell 4c to 266 as doubts gather about the likelihood of a successful takeover.
Australian stocks, hit hard yesterday as that market dived 3 per cent, weakened further today and the dual listed stocks depressed the local market, particularly finance stocks. Westpac lost 180 to 2810, ANZ 200 to 2850, AMP 40c to 910 and Lion Nathan lost 68c to 1055.
Ebos, up 4c to 490, Fisher & Paykel Appliances, up 4c to 295 and Hellaby, up 1c to 211 were among the few to buck the trend in the top 50.
NZ Oil and Gas fell 4c to 112 in response to falling world oil prices.
Others to fall sharply included Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, 7c to 295, Pumpkin Patch, 11c to 232 and Warehouse, 10c to 580.
In the US, analysts said investors are still uneasy about the economy. A Federal Reserve official's comment that rising inflation could prevent the bank from making further interest rate cuts didn't help.
The economy has been weakening but costs remain high, leading some economists to believe that the United States is headed for a troubling predicament known as stagflation.
"It just shows you the market's really skittish and temperamental," said Jim Herrick, director of equity trading at Baird & Co. "I really believe the market is driven by emotion, that there's this want to test the lows again."
- NZPA
