KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket continued to follow the United States lead today opening down almost two per cent.
US stocks fell overnight in a rapid sell-off late in the session as worries about the weakening global economy returned to centre stage just a day after the historic US presidential election of Barack Obama.
The benchmark NZX-50 index was down 52.064 points, or 1.804 per cent, to 2834.048 at 10.10am after closing at 2886.112 yesterday.
Top-stock Telecom was down 4c to $2.32, Contact Energy 34c to $7.05 and Fletcher Building 27c to $5.97 after rising 40c to $6.24 yesterday.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 3c to $3.10, Rakon 2c to $2.28, Pike River Coal 6c to $1.24, Tower 6c to $1.55, Sky City 3c to $3.15, Sky TV 6c to $4.04 and Trustpower 10c to $7.50.
Also down were Auckland Airport 4c to $1.79, Fisher & Paykel Appliances 6c to 149 and NZ Oil and Gas 2c to $1.38.
Tourism Holdings was the only top-50 stock to rise up 1c to 92c in early trading.
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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
