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The Australian sharemarket suffered its biggest fall in two months yesterday, stoking fears that a slowdown in global economies could cause a correction in stocks.
New Zealand investors may end up being grateful yesterday was an idle day on our own sharemarket, as we probably missed out on the worst of the fallout from global markets in decline.
The Dow Jones index was moving back upwards early this morning (NZT).
Across the Tasman yesterday, however, resource companies and Australia's two largest investment banks, Macquarie and Babcock & Brown, led the fall as investors reacted to warnings on the weekend from tractor maker Caterpillar about a recession in the United States.
The benchmark ASX 200 index slumped 1.9 per cent, or 129 points, to 6577.3, in the biggest one-day fall since mid-August, when global markets were in the grip of fears about a credit crunch.
The broader All Ordinaries dropped 131.2 points to 6592.1.