KEY POINTS:
New Zealand shares fell sharply in early trading in response to a sharp drop on Wall Street on Friday and despite a mild rebound in US stocks overnight.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index was down 30.6 points to 4285.5 at 10.20am.
Among the leaders, Telecom was off 8c to 446, Fletcher Building down 6c to 1232 and Contact Energy was down 11c to 932. Contact is holding its annual meeting today where a fight over the re-appointment of director Tim Saunders is expected.
The Warehouse was up 3c to 548. A High Court case began today hearing the appeals of Foodstuffs and Woolworths against a decision barring them from launching separate takeovers for the discount retailer.
Provenco rose 4c to 67c after it announced it would merge with fellow eftpos company Cadmus, which fell 0.1c to 17.3c.
Cadmus shareholders will receive one share in the new entity (MergeCo) for every 4.6 Cadmus shares held. Provenco shareholders will hold one MergeCo share for every Provenco share held.
Turnover was boosted to $78m by the sale of 17 million Goodman Fielder shares. Billionaire Graeme Hart said last week he was selling his stake. The 17 million shares went through at $2.52. Goodman was down 5c to 265.
Other movers in the top 50 included Rakon, down 9c to 511, GPG, down 4c to 190, and NZOG, down 4c to 105.
Forest products firm Tenon jumped 34c to 205 on a small parcel of 200 shares.
- NZPA