NZ sharemarket edges lower early
The New Zealand sharemarket eased in early trading, as Fletcher Building lost some of the gain it made yesterday when it reached a three-year high of 928.
The New Zealand sharemarket eased in early trading, as Fletcher Building lost some of the gain it made yesterday when it reached a three-year high of 928.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 1.37 points to 3406.68, after yesterday gaining 19.4 points.
Fletcher Building was down 9c early to 915, having closed up 20c yesterday amid positive sentiment about the work it is expected to get in rebuilding earthquake-hit Christchurch.
OceanaGold fell 10c to 370, and NZ Refining Co dropped 5c to 500.
Mainfreight lifted 8c to 883, Ebos Group was up 5c to 755, The Warehouse added 4c to 349, Tower was up 2c to 182, and Air New Zealand lifted 2c to 112. Contact Energy edged up 1c to 580 and Telecom was unchanged early at 199.
In the United States, stocks spent most of the day in positive territory driven by strength in the telecommunications sector and consumer spending data.
But by the end of the day indices were down as the corporate outlook was clouded ahead of earnings and uncertainty continued to creep from abroad, while volume hit its lowest level of the year.
A warning from hotel operator Marriott International hurt hotel and other consumer shares, amid expectations of other negative corporate earnings pre-announcements.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.2 percent to 12,197.88, the Standard&Poor's 500 Index fell 0.3 percent to 1310.19, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.5 percent to 2730.68.
NZPA
Tue, 29 Mar 2011
Tue, 29 Mar 2011
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NZ sharemarket edges lower early
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