New Zealand sharemarket down

The New Zealand sharemarket opened slightly down this morning, failing to build on yesterday's gains.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed yesterday up 1.26 per cent at 3195.803, helped by a recovery in Fletcher Building shares.

However, in opening trading this morning the index dropped 6 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 3189.801, as the number of stocks in negative outweighed those on the improve.

Guinness Peat Group was down 1c to 84c, AMP Office lost 1c to 74c and Goodman Property Group shed 1c to 97c.

Kiwi Income Property Trust was down 1c to 98c, Sky City slipped 3c to $3.00 and Cavalier dipped 2c to $2.53.

Steel & Tube slid 2c to $2.58, NZ Oil&Gas evaporated 1c to $1.52 and Hellaby Holdings dropped 1c to $1.65.

Telecom was unchanged at $2.11, as was Rakon at 99c.

Stocks gaining this morning were Telstra, up 5c to $3.78, TrustPower earning 5c to $7.35, Fletcher Building, continuing to rise, up 5c to $8.13 and Auckland Airport, up 1c to $1.98.

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Meanwhile, US stocks fell on Thursday as downbeat comments on the economy from tech company Cisco Systems and retail chain Kohl's cast doubt on the strength of the US recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 113.96 points, or 1.05 per cent, to end at 10,782.95. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 14.23 points, or 1.21 per cent, to 1157.44. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 30.66 points, or 1.26 per cent, to close at 2394.36.

The S&P 500 gained 5.47 per cent in the first three days of the week -- its biggest three-day run since July 2009.

Britain's top stock index hit a two-week closing high as miners gained tracking stronger metals prices, but persistent concerns about euro zone debt problems prompted investors to stay cautious. The FTSE 100 ended up 50.28 points, or 0.9 per cent, at 5433.73 - the highest close since April 30. The blue chip index has gained around 6 per cent so far this week, recovering most of last week's 7.7 per cent fall.

Japan's Nikkei average rose over 2 per cent to a one-week closing high after Spain outlined measures to cut its deficit, easing fears the Greek debt crisis could spread in Europe and boosting exporters such as Advantest.

The Nikkei was up 2.2 per cent or 226.52 points to 10,620.55, its highest close since last Thursday.

Australian shares jumped 1.8 per cent, as Spain's plan to cut spending soothed investor fears about Europe's debt woes and soaring Australian employment boosted confidence in the economic recovery. The S&P ASX 200 index advanced by 79.8 points to close at 4652.8.

- NZPA