Sharemarket slips early

The New Zealand sharemarket slipped when trading opened for the week, with leading share Telecom down 3c to $2.46 early after rising 9c on Friday.

Contact Energy, which ended Friday up 19c added another 2c to $5.98 in early trading today, while another leader, Fletcher Building, lifted 1c to $7.67 early.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 3.74 points to 3150.49, having climbed 31.3 points on Friday.

NZ Refining Co lifted 5c early to $3.65, after losing 45c on Thursday and Friday when a company statement highlighted the company's difficult trading environment. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was also up early, lifting 4c to $3.30 on low volume, The Warehouse lifted 3c to $4.05, Tower gained 3c to $1.95, and Ryman Healthcare added 3c to $2.03.

Carpet company Cavalier Corp fell 10c from a three-month high to $2.70 early, while Freightways dropped 5c to $3.20, and Nuplex was down 3c to $2.76.

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In the United States, stocks rose on Friday in choppy trade as quarterly results from Oracle and Research In Motion lifted the Nasdaq more than 1 per cent, but the US dollar's climb curbed gains in both the Dow and the S&P 500.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 0.2 per cent to 10,328.89, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.6 per cent to 1102.47, and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.5 per cent to 2211.69.

- NZPA