KEY POINTS:
Another battering on Wall St was reflected on New Zealand's sharemarket, which slid 1.1 per cent.
The NZSX-50 index has fallen 2.7 per cent in the last three sessions, in line with three consecutive sharp declines on Wall Street on credit concerns.
The local market closed today at 4089.13, down 45.63 points.
Turnover totalled $143 million but it was "quite a quiet day" when a $67m crossing in News&Media preference shares was stripped out, ABN Amro Craigs retail adviser Nigel Scott said.
"The volatility of last week's going to take a while for investors to work through. I think investors are looking out for even some increased volatility as we get stage two of subprime and funding issues hitting the market."
Today's main board was a sea of red, with 81 falls and 30 rises.
Leading stocks included Telecom down 6c to 421 after falling 11c on Friday; Fletcher Building down 16c to 1118 as housing data showed further softening in price growth; and Contact down 7c to 898.
Warehouse shares regained 4c to 526 after announcing a 1.7 per cent drop in first quarter sales on Friday.
Others to rise included Vector up 8c to 229, Sky TV up 4c to 582 and Ebos up 5c to 525.
Abano, which told its annual meeting on Friday that it was at or ahead of market guidance, dropped 5c to 490 today. That is 10c below the Masthead Portfolios offer, which is seeking 51 per cent of the company.
Auckland Airport was down 2c to 307 while Air NZ, whose rival Pacific Blue opened up its domestic service today, was down 5c to 200.
Dual-listed banking stock AMP was down 18c to 1180, ANZ was down 131 to 3350 and Westpac fell 119 to 3401.
Goodman Property said today it planned to raise $275 million through a one-for-eight issue and a placement , and remained on trading halt.
The company also reported its September year net profit rose 43 per cent to $28.7m .
- NZPA