KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand market opened lower today, unable to ignore a sharp fall on Wall Street on Friday.
The biggest sharemarket in the world closed at its second-lowest level this year and below 12,000 for the first time since March 17.
The New Zealand market, the first to open in the world, opened with the NZSX-50 index down 6.691 points at 3276.735. The local index had fallen 1.7 per cent to a 30-month low on Friday.
Fletcher Building was down 6c at 635 and Fisher and Paykel Appliances was down another 7c at 188, having closed at a record low on Friday. Telecom was unchanged at 373.
Air NZ eased 1c to 113 and Auckland Airport eased 1c to 195. Guinness Peat Group eased 2c to 146.
The Warehouse was unchanged at 470. Tower eased 5c to 213 and TrustPower eased 2c to 758. Port of Tauranga rose 1c to 681 and SkyCity rose 1c to 321.
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Rising oil prices and warnings of more mortgage-related write-downs at banks reignited investors' fears of worse to come in the United States.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 220.40 points, or 1.83 per cent, at 11,842.69. For the week the Dow ended 3.8 per cent lower, the S&P fell 3.1 per cent and Nasdaq dropped 2 per cent.
- NZPA
