KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket plunged again today, even after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut the official cash rate by a full percentage point to 6.5 per cent.
There was simply nowhere to hide from the reality that global share markets continued to be in turmoil.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 92.059 points, or 3.175 per cent, at 2807.339.
"Even a one per cent interest rate cut couldn't stop our market from sliding," said Grant Williamson, partner at Hamilton Hindin Greene.
"The interest rate cut was overlooked as international markets continued to decline on fears of recession," he said.
He said the sell-off was broad and affected most stocks.
"Bargain hunters are just not making any headway at all," he said.
Also, shareholders got little profit guidance from a number of annual meetings today, though after the market closed Contact Energy heeded calls not to increase directors' pay immediately.
Telecom was down 18c to 226, Contact Energy dropped 29c to 702 and Fletcher Building lost 12c to 600.
Port of Tauranga was down 5c at 655 after it said it expects an offer from Ports of Auckland for its container terminal.
Infratil fell 4c to 199, Tower fell 3c to 143 and TrustPower fell 16c to 724.
Guinness Peat Group fell 1c to 98. The Warehouse fell 13c to 390 and SkyCity fell 10c to 329. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 7c to 310. NZOG was down 5c at 118.
Asian share markets plunged today after US stocks tumbled to five-year lows as investors grappled with an increasingly dire outlook for the global economy following a raft of disappointing profits and outlooks from major US companies.
During the New Zealand session the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan fell 5.5 per cent to its lowest since October 2004.
Japan's Nikkei share average slumped 5.5 per cent, the Australian market was down 3.9 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI index fell 8.5 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 4.7 per cent at the lowest since April 2005.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 5.7 per cent to 8519.21. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 6.1 per cent to 896.78, its lowest closing level since April 2003.
The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 4.8 per cent to 1615.75, closing at it lowest level since June 2003.
- NZPA
