KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket opened down today after falling on Friday following a disappointing half-year result from market leader Telecom.
The US stock market also fell on Friday as renewed worries about the credit market sparked a wave of selling in financial shares.
Financial shares in Europe also fell on the credit worries, but gains in technology and mining shares drove European markets to close higher.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index was down 14.8 points to 3597 at 10.15am today.
Telecom shares remained at a 14-and-a-half year low, down 4c to 391 following the announcement of a 12.6 per cent fall in half year net profit to $397 million.
Contact Energy was down 4c to 775, Nuplex 9c to 550, and Pumpkin Patch 3c to 230.
Courier and document storage company Freightways was up 3c to 322 after this morning reporting a 2 per cent lift in half year net profit after tax to $16.77 million.
Also up were The Warehouse 3c to 580, Ryman 2c to 180 and Tower 1c to 210.
* * *
On Wall Street the credit market fears drove safe-haven buying of US government bonds, while the Dow Jones industrial average ended its worst week in nearly five years.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 64.87 points at 12,182.13. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 5.62 points at 1331.29. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 11.82 points at 2304.85.
- NZPA