NZ sharemarket starts week lower

The New Zealand sharemarket fell in early trading, with key stock Fletcher Building starting the week with a drop of half a per cent.

About 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 5.94 points to 3258.31, having edged down 0.4 points on Friday.

Early today Fletcher Building fell 4c to $8.00, Freightways was down 3c to $3.03, and Tower lost 2c to $1.97.

Another leading stock, Telecom, added 1c to $2.17, while Skellerup lifted 3c to $1.00, just down from the three-year high of $1.01 reached earlier this month.

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In the United States, last week ended with commodity-related shares leading stocks lower in a shortened post-holiday session as investors unloaded risky assets on worries that euro-zone debt problems may spread.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.9 per cent to end at 11,092, the Standard & Poor's 500 slipped 0.8 per cent to 1189.40, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.3 per cent to 2534.56.

- NZPA