NZ stocks: Market eases in early business

The sharemarket eased in early trading today after yesterday turning morning losses into a 0.4 per cent gain.

The NZX-50 index was down 3.50 points to 3600.23 on light turnover.

Lead stock Telecom lost yesterday's 2c gain to sit on 435. It announced it was stepping up its Yellow Pages' online presence in a move that may be connected to sale of its directories unit.

There was precious little action or corporate news around to move the market. Nuplex was up 7c to 650 and Lion Nathan was up 8c to 927.

Mainfreight was down 5c to 655 while Hellaby was up 5c to 510.

Among the minnows, New Image was down 2.5c to 17.5c and Dominion Finance was up 5c to 1.50.

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On Wall Street, US stocks fell with tech shares giving back recent gains as a brokerage downgrade hit shares of Apple Computer and a legal battle hurt chip maker Qualcomm Inc.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 8.72 points in light trading at 11,670.35. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 20.83 points, or 0.92 per cent, at 2237.60.

- NZPA