The New Zealand sharemarket headed lower again on opening this morning following another negative session on Wall St overnight.
By 11.30am the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was down 10.88 points or 0.37 per cent to 2947.61, while the NZSX all capital index was down 3.93 points to 947.76.
"The market is continuing to drift lower," Amro Craigs Equities broker Nigel Scott said.
On Wall St yesterday the blue-chip Dow average fell 1.14 per cent and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 fell 1.33 per cent to fresh 2005 lows as a jump in consumer prices last month fanned fears of inflation and sharper interest-rate increases ahead.
But Mr Scott said while there would always be a short term reaction to overseas markets' movements, there had been nothing in the way of local corporate activity or altered interest rate or currency outlooks to change the market's underlying sentiment.
He said turnover this morning had been fairly light, and "the buying that's in the market seems to be towards the larger caps".
The market's top stock Telecom lost a cent to 598, while among other blue chips, Auckland International Airport was down 3c to 199, Contact Energy was down 3c to 675, and Fletcher Building was down 16c to 624.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances was trading 4c lower at a two year low of $2.69.
Rural services company Wrightson fell 9c to 152 after issuing a profit warning this morning. The company said its net profit for the March 2005 year was likely to be about $16.2 million, compared to about $18 million previously forecast. Wrightson said the change reflected the impact of weather conditions on trading in the critical February/March period and costs associated with its acquisition of rival Williams & Kettle completed last month.
Mr Scott said the downgrade was "really symptomatic of where the market is at the moment. It's only really viewing all news as bad news."
Carter Holt Harvey which yesterday reported a 36 per cent plunge in first quarter operating profit recovered 4c to 184 after yesterday losing 10c.
Other stocks to move this morning included: Cavalier Corp up 5c to 370, Metlifecare down 5c to 355, Pumpkin Patch down 3c to 297, Sky City down 6c to 447, Tenon down 5c to 365 and The Warehouse down 4c to 368.
There were 9 rises and 51 falls among 116 stocks traded by late morning and total turnover was worth $38.54 million.
- NZPA
<EM>NZ stocks:</EM> Market follows Wall St down
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