NZ sharemarket opens lower

The New Zealand sharemarket opened marginally lower, while oil companies took a slight blow with news an exploration well has not found "a commercially significant oil accumulation".

New Zealand Oil and Gas fell 4c to $1.39 after announcing this morning an "economic oil accumulation" was not present at the Tui SW-2 well location, at the top of the Kapuni F sands in Taranaki - NZOG owns 12.5 per cent of the field through its subsidiary Steward Petroleum. Pan Pacific Petroleum, which owns 10 per cent, also fell 1c to $2.60.

At 10am, the benchmark NZX-50 index opened marginally lower, down 2.172 points, or 0.071 per cent, at 3039.091, after closing up 38.935 points on Friday.

Among the handful of stocks in the positives Port of Tauranga was up 5c to $6.85 following a 25c rise on Friday, when it increased its earnings guidance for the full year and detailed the impact of policies affecting tax in the Mary government budget.

Fletcher Building was up 4c to0 $8.14, New Zealand Refining rose 3c to $3.30, Ebos Group was up 1 cto $6.11, and Michael Hill International rose 1c to 71.

NZX opened up 1c up to $1.51, making little recovery from its 8c fall at $1.50 on Friday.

Telecom was down 2c to $1.89, maintaining Friday's gains when it rose to $1.91, having fallen to a record low of $1.79 last week.

Pike River Coal was also down 2c to 93, and Fisher Health fell 2c to $3.21.

Infratil was down 2c to $1.60, Ryman Healthcare fell 1c to $2.12 and Affco was still at 37c. Shareholders were advised to take no action as an offer from Talleys Group at 37c a share was likely after it agreed to buy out Toocooya, a Spencer family company, at that price.

Some stocks were expected to take a hit this morning if retail sales data disappointed.

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In the United States, stocks rose in a late rally on Friday as a strong forecast from a chip maker lifted tech shares and helped alleviate concerns about the economy's health after an unexpected drop in retail sales.

US retail sales fell 1.2 per cent in May -- the first time in eight months. But a jump in consumer sentiment index to a near 2-1/2-year high in a preliminary reading for June tempered fears of a slowing economic recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 38.54 points, or 0.38 per cent to 10,211. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 4.76 points, or 0.44 per cent to 1097.60. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 24.89 points, or 1.12 per cent to 2243.60.

For the week, the Dow rose 2.8 per cent, the S&P gained 2.5 per cent and the Nasdaq advanced 1.1 per cent.

- NZPA