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The New Zealand share market took its lead from a weak Wall Street and stepped down in opening trade.
It was never going to be an easy day after Wall Sreet's major indices fell nearly 2 per cent on Friday when weak employment data stoked fears that the US economy was headed into recession.
In New Zealand the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 21.431 at 4130.545 after rising 11.88 points on Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average had ended down 249.97 points, or 1.87 per cent, at 13,113.38 on Friday.
Telecom was down 4c at 434, Fletcher Building was down 6c at 1185 and Contact Energy was down 5c at 910.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 2c at 357 and Port of Tauranga was up 1c at 701.
Auckland Airport was down 3c at 306 and Tower was down 2c at 226.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is expected to leave rates unchanged at a review on Thursday. Economists think it has finished increasing rates but has not yet begun to decrease them.
The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand's view of the property market is due today, following a Quotable Value report which showed property prices still increasing.
- NZPA