Early fall for NZ shares

The New Zealand sharemarket dropped in early trading, following falls in overseas markets.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 8.82 points to 3045.38, on top of a 14-point fall yesterday which reversed two-thirds of Monday's 21-point gain.

Dual-listed banks led the falls with ANZ down 72c to $28.45 and Westpac losing 46c to $28.80. Their decline came after a downgrade of French bank BNP Paribas by Fitch hit Europe's banking stocks overnight, leading to the end of a nine-day rally.

Contact Energy lost 6c early to $5.88, Fletcher Building was down 2c to $8.10, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare dropped 2c to $3.14, Freightways slipped 2c to $2.81, Hallenstein Glasson lost 2c to $3.51, and Nuplex was down 2c to $3.04, although Telecom was up 1c to $1.91.

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In the United States stocks fell more than 1 per cent in yet another late-day selloff as unexpectedly poor housing figures and the puncture of a key technical level sapped buying interest.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1.4 per cent to 10,293.45, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 1.6 per cent to 1095.34, and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 1.2 per cent to 2261.80.

- NZPA