KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket was flat early with top stock Telecom falling while some other stocks gained and as commodity prices tumbled and the New Zealand dollar hit a year-low against the greenback.
Around 10.10am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 1.94 points to 3365.32, having closed up 9.6 points yesterday.
Telecom was down 6c early to 322, reversing its 5c gain yesterday.
Among other stocks to fall were Sky TV, down 4c to 485, NZ Oil & Gas 4c to 152, and Pike River Coal 2c to 195.
Stocks rising included Air NZ, up 7c early to 121, Fisher & Paykel Appliances 5c to 185, F&P Healthcare 4c to 324, Hellaby Holdings 4c to 210, Ryman Healthcare 2c to 169, and Sky City 2c to 363.
The NZ dollar reached a year-low against the greenback just above US68c around 8pm yesterday, although it regained some of the lost ground during the night to be around US68.70c by 10am.
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Oil prices dived and commodities from copper to cotton tumbled overnight.
"The wheels seem to be coming off the commodity markets,"
Edward Meir, an energy and base metals analyst at MF Global in New York, wrote in his daily commentary.
"Crude oil is leading the retreat, as Hurricane Gustav failed to live up to its earlier billing," Meir said.
US stocks fell, as the steep decline in the price of oil and other commodities hammered energy and materials companies while tech shares fell amid jitters a global economic slowdown would crimp technology spending.
The market was unable to hold on to the sharp gains notched at the beginning of the day, in part after a weak reading on factory activity.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.23 per cent to 11,516.92. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 0.41 per cent to 1277.57. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.77 per cent to 2349.24.
- NZPA
