KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket eased mildly in early trading today after the benchmark index closed yesterday just 10 points shy of a record high.
The NZSX-50 index was down 12.85 points to 4315.2 at 10.20am. There were 13 rises and nine falls among the 63 stocks traded, on light turnover of $33m.
Among the market leaders, Telecom, which is holding its annual meeting in Dunedin today, was down 3c to 455, No 3 stock Contact Energy was down 10c to 940 and No 2, Fletcher Building, was unchanged on 1278.
Lines company Vector was down 14c to 233 after the Commerce Commission said today in a draft determination it would impose 15 per cent price reductions on its gas distribution business.
The Warehouse was up 5c to 549, Westpac was down 18c to 3400, PGG Wrightson was down 3c to 195 as was Infratil to 300 but there were no other moves of note in the top 50.
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On Wall Street, stocks dropped after a broker's weak outlook for chip makers drove a sell-off of technology shares and as investors worried monthly jobs data could show deterioration in the labour market.
Shares of technology companies had been top performers in recent weeks, but bellwethers such as Intel Corp fell after Morgan Stanley said a price war in the chip sector is brewing.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 79.26 points, or 0.56 per cent, to end at 13,968.05. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 7.04 points at 1539.59 and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 17.68 points to 2729.43.
- NZPA