KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket eased in early trading after another rough session on Wall Street on simmering fears the US economy is sliding into a recession.
US stocks sank today as crude oil prices struck fresh highs above US$108 ($138) a barrel and as The Blackstone Group private equity firm announced a quarterly loss of US$170 million ($216 million).
The leading blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell a sharp 148.82 points or 1.25 per cent to 11,744.87 at the closing bell.
Here, the NZSX-50 benchmark index, which yesterday held relatively well with a 0.2 per cent fall against depressed Australian and Japanese markets, was down 5.7 points to 3541 at 10.20am.
Market leader Telecom was down 1c to 395, while the much battered No.2 Fletcher Building, was up 3c to 913. Contact Energy, down 10c yesterday, lost another 1c to 820.
Auckland Airport rose 4c to 229 as hopes rose the Candian Pension Plan partial takeover might be approved after it agreed to limit its voting rights to 25 per cent even if it wins 40 per cent control.
Clothing retailer Pumpkin Patch fell 7c to a new four year low of 171. It is down 63 per cent from its high of $4.60 a year ago.
Westpac, which yesterday lost 120 on concerns about being hit by the US subprime mortgage markets, was down another 95c today to 2305.
Mainfreight was down 8c to 632 as oil prices soared.
Turners Auctions was down a hefty 7c to 110 while retailer Briscoe was up 4c to 130.
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In the US, the tech-dominated Nasdaq composite tumbled 43.15 points or 1.95 per cent to 2169.34 and the Standard & Poor's 500 broad-market index slid 19.34 points or 1.50 per cent to a preliminary close of 1274.03.
"Wall Street is clearly nervous. More bad news on spreading problems in the credit markets combined with growing evidence of a slowing economy has sent market bulls back into their fox holes," said Frederic Dickson, chief market strategist at DA Davidson & Co.
- NZPA