KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket pursued dire overseas markets and lost nearly 30 points in the opening minutes of trading today.
More than two dozen stocks lost value and the benchmark NZSX-50, which closed yesterday at 2672.62, lost 29.988 points, or 1.122 per cent, to 2642.634 in early trading.
Tourism Holdings, which this morning announced a half year loss of $300,000, initially led the way in percentage loss. It dropped 5c, or 7.69 per cent, to 60.
But it was overtaken by the company on everybody's lips, Fisher & Paykel Appliances, which eroded all of yesterday's gains, losing 9c to 63, as commentators warned against a Government bailout of the company, which is facing more than $500 million in debt, and is looking for a cornerstone shareholder to buy in.
Nuplex Industries lost 16c, or 7.77 per cent, to $1.90 and New Zealand Refining, despite annual after-tax profit rising by 11 per cent to $124.9m, at the upper end of expectations, lost 10c, or 1.39 per cent, to $7.10.
The only stocks to rise this morning were ING Property, which rose 1c to 60, and Telstra, which gained 3c to $4.65.
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In overseas markets, stocks tumbled on Wall Street on Tuesday as investors grew more doubtful that the government could quickly turn around the still-weakening US economy.
The big worry on Wall Street was that car companies General Motors and Chrysler might not be able to prove by Tuesday's deadline that they could repay billions of dollars in loans and return to profitability.
At the closing bell on Wall Street, the Dow had dropped 297.09, or 3.78 per cent, to 7553.32 - just a point away from the blue-chip index's five-and-a-half month closing low of 7552.29 reached on November 20.
Broader stock indicators also lost ground. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 37.62, or 4.55 per cent, to 789.22 at the close. The Nasdaq composite index fell 63.7, or 4.15 per cent, to 1470.66.
Jittery European markets fell hard on Tuesday on fears for the health of the banking and automobile sectors and doubts about the effectiveness of the US economic stimulus package.
In London, the FTSE 100 index lost 2.43 per cent, or 100.62 points, to close at 4034.13.
In Japan the benchmark Nikkei shed 104.66 points to 7645.51, its lowest finish since October 28, when it ended at 7621.92.
The Australian share market has received a strongly negative lead from Wall Street securities trading, although precious metals were up.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 52.6 points, or 1.5 per cent, at 3464.3 while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 49.1 points, or 1.42 per cent, to 3412.2.
- NZPA
