KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket was sharply down shortly after opening for the week, with top stock Telecom losing 4.3 per cent and Fletcher Building dropping 2.5 per cent.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 26.64 points to 3326.6, more or less reversing Friday's 28.4-point gain.
Telecom was down 14c early to 313, Fletcher Building dropped 19c to 729, and Contact Energy was down 6c to 830.
Other shares to lose ground included Auckland Airport, down 4c to 208, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare down 5c to 310, Sky TV down 5c to 480 and Tower down 3c to 218.
The mood was not all negative with a handful of stocks adding 1c and Southport adding 34c to 250 on the sale of 2500 shares, NZ Oil & Gas gaining 3c to 161, Xero up 2c to 90, and Ryman Healthcare up 2c to 174.
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US stocks tumbled on Friday, led lower by tech shares after computer maker Dell warned that companies worldwide are cutting back on technology spending.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 1.46 per cent at 11,543.71. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 1.38 per cent at 1282.75. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 1.83 per cent at 2367.52.
For the month, though, the Dow added 1.5 per cent, while the S&P rose 1.3 per cent and the Nasdaq gained 1.8 per cent.
- NZPA
