Shares fall back in early trade

The New Zealand sharemarket fell back in early trading after global stocks tumbled.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 27.02 points to 3156.84, more than reversing yesterday's 22.8-point gain.

Overnight investors scrambled for safety, driving United States stocks to their biggest loss in three months on fresh concerns about the strength of the US economic recovery.

A disappointing reading on US manufacturing activity and an unexpected rise in new claims for jobless benefits by US workers drove investor sentiment around the world, sending European shares to a three-week closing low just one day after recording the best quarterly gains in a decade.

In this country Fletcher Building was down 12c early to $8.40, after gaining 17c yesterday.

NZX was down 10c to $8.05, Sky TV fell 8c to $4.70, Hallenstein Glasson lost 5c to $2.85, Mainfreight fell 5c to $5.44, NZ Refining was down 5c to $4.95, Sky City fell 4c to $3.28, and Telecom fell 4c to $2.66.

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The Dow Jones industrial average was down 2.1 per cent at 9509.28, and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 2.6 per cent to 1029.85.

The biggest loser was the Nasdaq Composite Index which was down 3.1 per cent at 2057.48.

The MSCI world equity index slid 2.1 per cent, kicking off October on a sour note after soaring 17 per cent in the third quarter.

- NZPA