NZ sharemarket heads lower after Wall St tumble

The New Zealand sharemarket headed lower in early trading, after a tumble by stocks in the United States at the end of last week.

Around 10.20am today, the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 10.73 points to 3275.39, after a 3.9-point gain on Friday.

Fletcher Building shares fell 7c to $8.34, Hellaby Holdings was down 3c to $1.65, Sky TV lost 3c to $5.00, Trustpower was down 3c to $7.37, and Rakon dropped 3c to $1.03.

Early rises were recorded by Pike River Coal, up 4.3c to $1.14, Steel & Tube up 4c to $2.67, and Restaurant Brands, which lifted 2c to $2.35.

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In the US, stocks tumbled on Friday to close out the worst week since January as news of a criminal probe into Goldman Sachs unnerved investors already anxious about the prospects for heavy regulation from Washington.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.4 per cent to 11,008.61, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 1.7 per cent to 1186.69, and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 2 per cent to 2461.19.

For the week, the Dow fell 1.2 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 2.5 per cent, and the Nasdaq dropped 2.7 per cent.

- NZPA