KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket slipped back in early morning trading today, amid more bad economic news and tumbling prices on Wall Street.
The benchmark NZX-50 index shed 20.19 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 2748.08 in the first 20 minutes today.
The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research's quarterly survey of business opinion released today showed 44 per cent of firms decreased their activity in the December quarter and 43 per cent expected their trading activity to decrease further this quarter.
The number of firms intending to reduce staff over the next three months (32 per cent) was at its highest since June 1991.
Telecom, which yesterday announced the closure of its online shopping venture Ferrit, eased 3c to $2.44, while Contact Energy slipped 3c to $7.30 and Fletcher Building was down 1c to $5.85.
Leading stocks shedding 5c in early trading were Mainfreight to $4.75, Port of Tauranga to $6.50, Sky City to $2.97 and Rakon to $1.20.
PGG Wrightson shed 3c to $1.42, while Pumpkin Patch was also down 3c, to 97, and fellow retailer Michael Hill eased 1c to 55.
The only top 50 stocks to firm in the first 20 minutes were Nuplex, 2c to $3.02, and Vector 1c to $2.15, Pike River Coal 1c to $1.01, Ryman 1c to $1.42 and Tower 1c to $1.55.
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Reuters has reported from New York that United States stocks recorded their worst two-day slide in more than a month as investors worried about the outlook for embattled bank Citigroup and expectations mounted for dismal fourth-quarter earnings.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 1.46 per cent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index 2.26 per cent and the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index 2.09 per cent.
- NZPA
