NZ sharemarket knocked back early

File photo

The New Zealand sharemarket took a heavy knock in early trading, after stocks in the United States were driven lower by escalating Greek debt woes and troubling US economic data.

Financials in the US came under fire after Moody's Investors Service said it may cut the credit ratings of French banks, citing exposure to Greek debt.

US data showed the US economy facing a troubling mix of higher prices and weak growth.

"Every day that we get another negative macro report -- they can't keep brushing it under the rug and say we are in a soft patch and it's only temporary," said Ken Polcari, managing director at ICAP Equities in New York.
"They tried to play the Greece thing off like it was going to be settled and clearly it's not, so it's all coming back to haunt them."

In this country, at 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 25.54 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 3480.83, after yesterday climbing 17 points.

Freightways lost 9c early to 337, Contact Energy dropped 7c to 572, Skellerup was down 5c to 120, Mainfreight fell 4c to 1014, NZX was down 4c to 240, SkyCity dropped 4c to 362, Telecom fell 4c to 239.5, and Fletcher Building was down 2c to 865.

Pumpkin Patch, which yesterday lowered its profit forecast and announced changes including the closure of its 20 stores in the United States, was down 5c to 104.

Dual-listed bank Westpac fell 31c to 2819, while ANZ lost 25c to 2820.

In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1.5 percent to 11,897.27, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 1.7 percent to 1265.42, and the Nasdaq Composite Index slid 1.8 percent to 2631.46.

- NZPA