Wellington - The New Zealand stock market, which rallied Wednesday after recording its biggest fall in six years a day earlier, opened sharply lower Thursday following big losses overnight on Wall Street.

The benchmark NZX 50 index fell 86.9 points, or 2.7 per cent, in early trading to 3,183, after rising 1.3 per cent the previous day on the back of renewed confidence after the US Federal Reserve's bail- out loan to insurance giant American International Group (AIG).

The three biggest listed companies were all down significantly, with the market leader Telecom falling 3.2 per cent to 2.72 New Zealand dollars and hitting a 15-year low at one stage.

Fletcher Building fell 4.4 per cent to 6.95 New Zealand dollars, and Contact Energy was down 1.8 per cent to 8.60 New Zealand dollars. (dpa)