KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket started lower after Wall Street had its steepest decline in more than two months amid concerns about global growth and United States jobs.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 22.19 points to 3325.95, after a 25.3-point fall yesterday.
Among the early falls, top stock Telecom was down 3c to a 15-1/2- year low of 309, following a 7c fall yesterday.
Fletcher Building was down 7c early to 753, having gained 20c yesterday, while Contact Energy was down 9c to 826.
Among other shares to fall early, Freightways was down 10c to 340, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 6c to 318, Mainfreight lost 5c to 700, Nuplex lost 5c to 635, Trustpower dropped 5c to 795, Sky City was down 5c to 366, and The Warehouse was down 5c to 326.
The few stocks to rise early included fishing company Sanford, up 8c to 618, and NZ Farming Systems Uruguay, which gained 3c to 154.
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In the US, the sour mood was set early in the session, after weekly government data showed an unexpected jump in the number of filings for jobless benefits, while a report by ADP Employer Services showed private employers cut 33,000 jobs in August.
Financial stocks were also hammered, after Bill Gross, the manager of the world's biggest bond fund, Pimco, said that to halt what he called "a financial tsunami" the US government should give the Treasury the right to buy debt and other assets. Gross said he was staying on the sidelines of the markets.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.99 per cent to 11,188.23, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 2.99 per cent to 1236.83. The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 3.2 per cent to 2259.04.
- NZPA
