KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket was down 0.3 per cent soon after it opened trading for the week at 10am today.
The New Zealand market was the first in the world to open after the weekend, following unprecedented action by central bankers towards the end of last week to restore an uneasy calm to panicky financial markets.
The central banks injected a massive US$323 billion ($435.6 billion) into money markets that had almost seized up in panic over exposure to complex credit derivatives linked to defaulting US mortgages.
Around five minutes after the New Zealand exchange opened today, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 13.79 points, or 0.34 per cent to 4096.05.
On Friday it had shed 1.2 per cent, but had been prevented from plunging as far as some other bourses by strong interest in Telecom.
Britain's top share index tumbled nearly 4 per cent on Friday, its biggest fall in more than four years, while Tokyo's Nikkei average fell more than 2 per cent to its lowest close in almost five months.
In this country, after defying the general market trend on Friday and closing up 1c, top stock Telecom was down 5c early today to 430.
Telecom's share price had been recovering from a 10-month low last Monday in the wake of its annual result the previous week, and amid concerns about industry regulation.
Having lost 23c on Friday, second-ranked Fletcher Building was down a further 6c early today to 1218.
Contact Energy was down 2c to 919, Fisher & Paykel Appliances down 2c to 341, F&P Healthcare down 1c to 349, Hallenstein Glasson down 5c to 465, Infratil down 2c to 297, Mainfreight down 10c to 740, Sky City down 2c to 460, and Trustpower down 5c to 815.
Shares rising early included Air New Zealand up 1c to 245, Guinness Peat Group up 2c to 187, Hellaby Holdings up 2c to 315, Pumpkin Patch up 3c to 335, Restaurant Brands up 1c to 86, Tourism Holdings up 1c to 236, and The Warehouse up 1c to 608.
- NZPA