The New Zealand sharemarket was flat in early trading, with Freightways the main highlight as it added to yesterday's gains, which came after the company said the second half was an improvement over the first six months.Freightways shares gained 6c early
The New Zealand sharemarket was flat in early trading, with Freightways the main highlight as it added to yesterday's gains, which came after the company said the second half was an improvement over the first six months.
Freightways shares gained 6c early today, on top of yesterday's 7c, to be at 281, while the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 0.79 points to 3022.74 having yesterday closed up 8.4 points.
Sky City shares gained 4c early after reporting a 12 percent rise in underlying full year net profit and an increased final dividend of 9.25c per share, compared to 6.5cps a year earlier.
Contact Energy shares slipped 2c to 580, Fletcher Building added 1c to 724, and Telecom was unchanged early on 207.
In the United States, investors found little reason to buy stocks, suggesting that even several days of losses have not convinced institutions share prices are attractive.
"Trading volume remains anaemic as traders and portfolio managers found little reason to get excited enough to make a decision," said Scott Fullman, director of derivative investment strategy at WJB Capital Group.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.01 percent at 10,302.01, the Standard&Poor's 500 Index was up 0.01 percent at 1079.38, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.4 percent at 2181.87.
