KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket this morning maintained the gentle downward drift of the first two days of this week.
The influence from Wall Street continued to be negative as investors fretted that the credit crisis would cause a recession.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index was down 8.5 points to 4045.4 at 10.20am.
Turnover was about average at $33m with seven stocks up and 17 down.
Among the top three stocks, Telecom was down 1c to 434, Fletcher Building was up 6c to 1155 following yesterday's 16c fall, and Contact Energy was down 3c to 844 to add to yesterday's 8c loss.
The Warehouse was up 2c to 642. Details of the court decision overturning the prohibition on Foodstuffs and Woolworths launching takeover bids were released yesterday. The judgement appeared to show that Warehouse's Extra stores were not serious competition to the supermarket operators.
Hellaby was down 6c to 245 but there were no other moves of more than 2c in the top 50.
Finance company operator Dorchester Pacific was up 5c to 95c.
* * *
US stocks ended lower as investors worried about the impact of the credit crisis on financial services companies' profits and on the wider economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 66 points, or 0.50 per cent, to end unofficially at 13,248.48. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 9.68 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 1462.74. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 17.30 points, or 0.66 per cent, at 2619.83.
- NZPA W