KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket fell today along with markets around the world but its fall was less severe.
The Dow tanked 5.05 per cent overnight in a sell-off late in the session as worries about the weakening global economy returned to centre stage a day after the historic US presidential election of Barack Obama.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed down 45.982 points, or 1.593 per cent, at 2840.13. As the New Zealand market closed the Australian market was down about 4 per cent. Volume was light. Shares worth $58.87 million were traded today. There were 22 rises and 49 falls.
"We don't have the resource names that have come back so strongly in Australia," Peter Sigley, dealer at Goldman Sachs JBWere.
SkyTV was down 25c, or 6.1 per cent, at 385 after releasing profit guidance for 2009 at the annual meeting that was less than analysts' consensus forecast.
Top-stock Telecom was down 9c to 227, which was in line with the market. The company is due to announce its first quarter profit tomorrow.
Contact Energy, seen as defensive stock, was up 4c to 743.
Dual listed stocks were hammered with ANZ down 195 at 2020 and Goodman Fielder down 10c at 178.
Fletcher Building was down 13c to 611 but it had risen 40c yesterday.
NZOG was down 4c at 136, reflecting weakness in resource stocks.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 5c to 308, Rakon was unchanged at 186, Pike River Coal was down 7c at 123, Tower was down 5c to 156.
SkyCity was unchanged at 318 and Trustpower was down 4c to 756.
Auckland Airport was down 4c to 179 and Fisher & Paykel Appliances was unchanged at 155.
Port of Tauranga rose 5c to 665 even though the Government announced funding for rail sidings on land owned by competitor Ports of Auckland.
In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 486.01 points, or 5.05 per cent, to end unofficially at 9139.27, based on the latest data.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 52.98 points, or 5.27 per cent, to finish unofficially at 952.77. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 98.48 points, or 5.53 per cent, to close unofficially at 1681.64.
- NZPA
