NZ stocks: Market begins week in negative mood

The New Zealand sharemarket began the week in negative mood in morning trading.

The NZSX-50 gross index was down 5.82 points at 2168.79 at 11.45am while the NZSX-40 capital index was down 7.13 points at 2098.18.

Turnover was slim at $15.6 million with some $6.2 million of that in market heavyweight Telecom. It slid 4c to 490.

Sky City rose 9c to 916 ahead of what is expected to be a strong result tomorrow while Auckland Airport, which reports its result on Thursday, was down 4c to 620.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 5c to 1205, Promina was up 4c to 293, The Warehouse was up 6c to 497 while Vertex was down 6c to 155.

There were few other moves of note. Among the leaders, Lion Nathan rose 3c to 604, Carter Holt Havey was down 1c to 169 and Contact Energy was down 4c to 481.

There were 21 rises and 30 falls among the 103 stocks traded.

The lead from Wall Street on Friday was negative. US stocks sagged, eroding strong gains made earlier last week as investors cashed out after a sharp morning rally sparked by upbeat forecasts from the world's largest microchip maker, Intel Corp.

The Dow Jones industrial average slumped 74.81 points, or 0.79 per cent, to 9,348.87, and the S&P 500 Index dropped 10.22 points, or 1.02 per cent, to 993.05. After rallying nearly 2 per cent earlier in the session, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 12.24 points to 1,765.31.

- NZPA