NZ sharemarket tumbles early

The New Zealand sharemarket tumbled in early trading in the wake of falling equities around the world as downgrades of Greece and Portugal fuelled fear about euro-zone economic stability.

Around 10.20am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 19.39 points to 3272.52, on top of a 14.3-point fall yesterday.

Fletcher Building fell 8c early to $8.27 following a 10c decline yesterday, Contact Energy lost 5c to $6.17, and Telecom eased 1c to $2.18.

Other shares falling early included Mainfreight down 10c to $6.50, NZ Refining Co down 9c to $3.61, Cavalier Corp down 5c to $2.80, The Warehouse down 5c to $3.79, Sky City down 4c to $3.15, Sky TV down 4c to $5.01, and Methven down 3c to $1.54.

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In the United States stocks tumbled on the downgrades of Greece and Portugal, and as a grilling of Goldman Sachs on Capitol Hill heightened the possibility of financial reform.

Stocks posted their worst day in nearly three months. The CBOE Vix volatility index, Wall Street's barometer of investor fear, jumped about 31 per cent, its biggest one-day move since October 2008.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1.9 per cent to 10,991.99, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 2.3 per cent to 1183.71, and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 2 per cent to 2471.47.

- NZPA