The New Zealand sharemarket was flat in early trading as Fletcher Building shares continued to ease.Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 0.92 points to 3233.64, having gained 4.4 points yesterday. Fletcher Building shares were down 4c early to
The New Zealand sharemarket was flat in early trading as Fletcher Building shares continued to ease.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 0.92 points to 3233.64, having gained 4.4 points yesterday. Fletcher Building shares were down 4c early to 826 on top of a 2c fall yesterday, with the stock apparently undergoing a correction following recent price gains.
Shares in clothing retailer Hallenstein Glasson were unchanged early on 345 early after the company reported a 56 percent rise in first half profit.
Stock in another retailer Kirkcaldie&Stains was down 20c to 265, while The Warehouse, which went ex-dividend today on a 17cps dividend, was down 18c to 381.
Steel&Tube fell 6c to 263 and Contact Energy was down 2c to 610. Telecom was flat near historic lows on 213. NZ Refining Co lifted 2c to 397.
In the United States, stocks fell as Portugal's credit rating downgrade and a weak Treasury note auction stirred concerns about sovereign debt.
Major indexes eased a day after hitting 18-month highs, with losses across most sectors on light volume. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.5 percent to close at 10,836.15, the Standard&Poor's 500 Index slipped 0.6 percent to end at 1167.72, and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.7 percent to close at 2398.76.
