NEWSFLASH: NZ Sharemarkets Slip On Opening

New Zealand share markets dipped sharply today in reaction to last week’s dramatic slump in the United States sharemarkets.

In this morning’s trading, the New Zealand sharemarket opened well down with the benchmark top forty index falling around 100 points to 1973, a fall of around 5 per cent.

The fall here is in reaction to US developments where the threat of rising interest rates lead to the largest one day drop ever.

In New Zealand major companies to have lost value are Telecom which has lost 40 cents, Sky Television down 20 cents, and Independent Newspapers with a 36 cents drop. Other leaders Air New Zealand, Carter Holt Harvey and Fletcher Energy have also been affected.

All three companies have significant exposure to the technology sector which has also performed poorly this morning with a parallel 5 per cent drop but recovering 1 per cent in the last hour.

While trading is light, those on the floor say there is no panic selling and insiders expect profit taking to pull the market up by the end of the day.

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