NZ sharemarket flat early

Photo / Kenny Rodger

The New Zealand sharemarket was flat in early trading as global equities appear to be drifting ahead of the United States non-farm payrolls report, due out overnight.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 1.28 points to 3234.8, after yesterday edging up just 1 point.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 3c to $3.10 and Contact Energy lost 2c to $5.73.

Sanford picked up 6c to $4.06 early and Port of Tauranga added 3c to $7.04, but both were on low volume.

Among other leading shares, Telecom was unchanged on $2.04, and Fletcher Building was unchanged on $8.05.

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The upcoming US non-farm payrolls report has even bigger implications than usual for a market hoping that weak data will spur the Federal Reserve to take further steps to boost the economy.

Last month, the Fed hinted at the possibility that it might pump more cash into the US economy, probably through buying bonds, in an additional round of quantitative easing to bolster the anaemic recovery after the worst recession since the 1930s.

In the US, stocks were pressured by weak commodities and a firmer US dollar.

Investors said better-than-expected weekly jobless claims limited declines, but the spotlight was on Friday's larger non-farm payrolls report.

The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 0.2 per cent to 10,948.58, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index eased 0.2 per cent to 1158.06, but the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.1 per cent to 2383.67.

- NZPA