Leading stocks head lower

The New Zealand sharemarket slipped in early trade, with leading stocks continuing to head lower after falls yesterday.

Fletcher Building shares were down 6c to $7.90 early, after dropping 4c yesterday, Contact Energy lost 4c to $5.90 after yesterday's 16c slide, and Telecom eased 2c to $2.50 on top of a 4c fall yesterday.

Around 10.20am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 7.44 points to 3124.08, after a 42.5-point drop yesterday.

Among other early movements today, Sky TV was down 2c to $4.92, while Infratil lifted 1c to $1.52 having eased 3c yesterday after reporting a half year loss of $31.4 million, affected by asset impairment and revaluation of financial instruments.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 2c to $3.04, and Allied Workforce gained 5c to 75c.

Shares in rural services and finance group Allied Farmers - which have been trading at around 33c - were in a trading halt prior to its announcement it is to merge with cash-strapped lender Hanover Finance.

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In the United States, stocks rose to fresh 13-month highs as upbeat broker views on improving prospects for two Dow components offset disappointing holiday spending outlooks from Target and Home Depot.

Preliminary closing figures put the Dow Jones industrial average up 0.3 per cent to 10,437.42, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.1 per cent to 1110.32, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.3 per cent to 2203.78.

- NZPA