KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket opened the week slightly lower, following its 1 per cent gain on Friday.
Around 10 minutes after the market's 10am opening today the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 8.66 points to 4225.63.
After leading the market up with an 11c rise on Friday, in the wake of the appointment of BT's Paul Reynolds as chief executive officer, Telecom was down 4c to 455 early today.
And Air New Zealand, having ended the week in recovery mode with a 6c gain on Friday as the market absorbed the placement of a 4.2 per cent stake by Qantas on Wednesday , was down 1c to 263.
Auckland International Airport was off 2c to 326, having announced today it was to increase landing charges 2.5 per cent a year for the next five years.
The Warehouse was up 2c early today to 609, having crept ahead 4c on Friday after Foodstuffs said it would appeal a competition regulator's ban on its takeover offer.
Other early risers today included Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 1c to 338, Guinness Peat Group up 1c to 207, Ryman Healthcare lifted 3c to 225, Sky TV was up 1c to 564, and Tower was also 1c higher at 237.
Among stocks to slip early were Cavalier down 2c to 320, Infratil down 1c to 318, Kiwi Income Property Trust off 1c to 164, Restaurant Brands down 2c to 88, and Sky City off 2c to 506.
In the final US session of last week, stocks fell as banks and brokers retreated on concerns about the impact of tightening credit on takeovers and the subprime mortgage industry.
Early gains evaporated as oil rose to US$71 a barrel and investors booked profits before the quarter's end and the July 4 holiday week. That offset data pointing to moderating inflation and economic growth.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.10 per cent to end at 13,408.62. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slipped 0.16 per cent to finish at 1503.35.
The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.20 per cent to close at 2603.23.
Despite a weak performance for the month of June, all three indexes gained for the quarter. The blue-chip Dow average gained 8.5 per cent, the S&P 500 rose 5.8 per cent and the Nasdaq climbed 7.5 per cent.
For the week, the Dow rose 0.4 per cent, the S&P 500 inched up 0.05 per cent and the Nasdaq gained 0.6 per cent.
- NZPA