KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket slid again today after falls in United States equities on fears of a global recession and a rash of disappointing earnings.
Brokers said trading here was light with offshore accounts again selling while the buyers who were nibbling earlier this week retreated.
The market will continue to follow offshore markets but an expected interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank tomorrow should make investing in equities more attractive.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 52.621 points, or 1.783 per cent, at 2899.398. There were 27 rises and 55 falls.
"We are in a holding pattern maybe even to our election and the US election," said Bryon Burke of ABN Amro Craigs.
He said there was talk that the worst of the global economic crisis was over but today was basically a quiet one on the market.
Among leading stocks, Telecom closed unchanged at 244 and off its low of 235. Fletcher Building fell 33c to 612.
Contact was down 24c at 731 ahead of its annual meeting tomorrow. Vector, Port of Tauranga and Metlifecare also have annual meetings. Metlifecare fell 10c to 400 and Vector fell 3c to 199.
ANZ was up 25c at 2135 ahead of its profit report tomorrow. Tower rose 1c to 146.
Port of Tauranga eased 5c to 660, Sanford fell 4c to 550 and SkyTV fell 2c to 395. Michael Hill rose 1c to 71.
Nuplex rose 10c to 550. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare eased 10c to 317 on a day when it said new products were going to market and its profit was likely to be higher because of the lower NZ dollar.
Lion Nathan fell 17c to 940 and APN News fell 15c to 315.
In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.5 per cent to 9033.66, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 3.1 per cent, to 955.05.
The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 4.1 per cent to 1696.68.
With further signs that credit markets were starting to heal, investors' attention turned to the dismal profit outlook.
Earnings disappointments were widespread, while oil companies and miners weighed on the broader market as commodity prices slid.
- NZPA
