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The New Zealand sharemarket was down sharply in early trading, after equities plunged in the United States as the price of oil fell and worries about the prospects for an automakers' bailout increased.
Widespread falls in this country early saw leaders Telecom down 8c to $2.23, Contact Energy down 10c to $6.70 and Fletcher Building down 22c to $5.26.
Freight and logistics company Mainfreight slipped 3c to $4.29, after posting a 9.5 per cent increase in half year net profit before non-recurring items of $17.2 million.
Tower shares even managed a small rise, up 1c to $1.44, after posting a 17 per cent rise in full year net profit after tax to $40.5m.
Lyttelton Port Company shares were up 5c to $2.30 after majority owner Christchurch City Holdings announced it was seeking to buy nearly 2.5 per cent more shares at $2.75 a share.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 40.92 points, or 1.55 per cent, to 2603.75, having fallen 61.6 points yesterday.
Sky City was down 14c to $2.94, Nuplex lost 10c to $4.65, Port of Tauranga dropped 10c to $6.25 and NZ Oil & Gas was down 6c to $1.13.
NZX lost 5c to $5.75, while Sanford was also down 5c, to $5.25, Auckland Airport dropped 4c to $1.60, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare down 3c to $3.05.
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In the US, stocks plunged yet again as a frantic flight from risk on investors' deepening economic fears left the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index at its lowest level since 1997 - completing the erasure of more than a decade of stock market gains.
The Dow Jones industrial average slid unofficially 5.6 per cent, to close below 7600, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index plunged 6.7 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 5.1 per cent.
- NZPA
