The New Zealand sharemarket had a flat start to the day, as Fletcher Building shares fell a further 4c to be trading at their lowest level in nearly three months.Markets were dominated by fears that the bailout agreed for Europe would not solve the region
The New Zealand sharemarket had a flat start to the day, as Fletcher Building shares fell a further 4c to be trading at their lowest level in nearly three months.
Markets were dominated by fears that the bailout agreed for Europe would not solve the region's deep-seated problems.
From a six-month high 846 in mid-April, Fletcher Building shares were down to 787 early today, with the 4c fall early today on top of a 4c fall yesterday.
The benchmark NZX-50 index was down 1.57 points to 3165.46 around 10.15am, having fallen 3.6 points yesterday.
Other early moves included Telecom down 2c to 208, Steel&Tube down 2c to 253, and Sanford down 2c to 430.
Stocks gaining early included Contact Energy, up 3c to 615 and NZ Refining Co up 2c to 359
In the United States, investors dumped stocks in afternoon trading as worries about Europe's ability to contain Greece's fiscal problems crept back into the market.
Gold hit a new all-time high above $US1230 an ounce as investors sought the perceived safety of the precious metal, while falling crude oil prices hit shares of energy companies.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.3 percent to end at 10,748.26, the Standard&Poor's 500 Index fell or 0.3 percent to 1155.79, but the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.03 percent to close at 2375.31.
