KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket followed Wall Street down when it opened 0.8 per cent lower today.
United States stocks tumbled as fear of more credit and housing market turmoil battered financial shares and a mixed bag of quarterly results added to uncertainty the outlook for corporate profits.
Oil prices rose more than 1 per cent on supply concerns, further unnerving investors and renewing some worries about inflation and consumer spending.
But it was news that federal regulators seized two more failed US banks late last week that triggered Monday's sharp sell-off in financial shares and sent major indexes down more than 2 per cent.
Here, the NZSX-50 index was down 28 points to 3228.5 at 10.20am.
There were very few stocks up in the top 50. Market leader Telecom was off 5c to 356, Contact Energy down 2c to 815 and Fletcher Building off 11c to 638.
Casino company Sky City was down 10c to 330, Infratil, 7c to 214, Nuplex 11c to 529, and Goodman Fielder 4c to 168.
Steel & Tube was the standout in the top 50, rising 18c to 288.
In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average sank 239.61 points, or 2.11 per cent, to 11,131.08.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 23.39 points, or 1.86 per cent, to 1234.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 46.31 points, or 2.00 per cent, to 2264.22.
- NZPA