NZ shares flat in early trading

Photo / Kenny Rodger

The New Zealand sharemarket fell in early trading today in a quiet start to the week.

At around 10.20am, the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 5.899 points, or 0.178 per cent, at 3304.685.

Westpac recorded the biggest loss falling 40c to $2.78, Fletcher Building fell 5c to $7.85, the Warehouse fell 3c to $3.85, Nuplex eased 2c to $3.33 while Freightway fell 2c to $3.03.

Some companies made modest gains, including Trustpower which rose 2c to $7.42, Mainfreight which rose 1c to $7.40 and Tower - up 1c to $1.87c.

Fishing company Sanford remained unchanged at $4.70 after it announced it had entered into a conditional agreement with Pacifica Seafoods to acquire its Greenshell mussel and Pacific Oyster businesses for $85 million.

Meanwhile, Infrastructure investor Infratil eased 1c to $1.87 following its announcement last week it was considering making a public bond offer.

***

In the US, Wall Street ended a five-week winning streak on Friday as the threat of rising interest rates in China prompted investors to book profits and reassess bullish positions in equities.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 90.52 points, or 0.80 per cent, to 1119, the S&P 500 index slid 1.18 per cent to 14.33 points and the Nasdaq dropped 1.46 per cent to 2518.

- NZPA