KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket this morning extended its losing streak to a record 11th straight session.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index slumped 1.5 per cent yesterday to extend its loss this year to more than 7 per cent.
By 10.15am today it was down another 9.0 points to 3743.4, or 0.2 per cent.
The 11-day losing streak is the longest in the history of the NZSX-50, established in December 2000.
Investors have seen $4.6 billion wiped off the value of their shares this year as world markets display nervousness about the international credit crisis and fear of a United States recession.
Overnight, US stocks turned early gains into a loss. Stocks ended lower as energy shares declined along with oil prices and Intel Corp posted earnings and a profit outlook that disappointed investors.
The Dow Jones industrial average declined 37.39 points, or 0.30 per cent, to end unofficially at 12,463.72.
There were few standouts in today's local action.
Market leader Telecom was actually up 1c to 415 while No 2 stock Fletcher Building was down 1c to 1029 and No 3 Contact Energy was off 5c to 792.
The Warehouse was down 7c to 565 with some analysts suggesting Christmas sales were not as buoyant as hoped.
Abano Healthcare, which closed on 500 yesterday, was untraded. The takeover battle for Abano took an interesting new twist today with Masthead quitting its 19.9 per cent stake but not selling to takeover aspirant Australian investment company Crescent Capital Partners.
It sold to a company associated with Abano's management, Healthcare Industry, at $5.20 per share.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 5c to 327.
One of the few stocks to rise in the top 50 was fish exporter Sanford, up 4c to 391, possibly in response to the US2c fall in the NZ dollar over the last two days.
Another riser was Steel & Tube, up 6c to 346.
* * *
On Wall Street, The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 8.10 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 1372.85. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 23.00 points, or 0.95 per cent, to 2394.59.
Morgan Chase & Co posted a profit despite turmoil in the credit market. The results from the No 3 US bank, though worse than expected, provided comparative relief from the gloom cast by Citigroup's record quarterly loss on Tuesday.
A smaller-than-expected profit decline by Wells Fargo & Co, the No 2 US mortgage lender, also helped the financial sector.
- NZPA