Shares edge lower early

The New Zealand sharemarket slipped in early trading, following disappointing corporate results from the United States at the end of last week.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 1.9 points to 3205.31, having gained 15.9 points on Friday.

Stocks falling early today included Contact Energy, down 6c to $6.14, Port of Tauranga down 6c to $7.02, NZX down 4c to $8.06, Nuplex down 3c to $2.38, Auckland Airport down 2c to $1.99, Cavalier Corporation down 2c to $2.48, and Fletcher Building down 2c to $8.15. Telecom was unchanged early on $2.55.

Among stocks gaining early, Trustpower lifted 4c to $7.52, Hellaby Holdings added 3c to $168, Rakon was up 2c to $122, and Michael Hill International gained 2c to 68.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare also gained 2c early, to $2.99, after reporting it had taken advantage of the strength of the New Zealand dollar against the greenback to monetise US$47m ($64.4m) of forward exchange contracts. The cash benefit of $23m had been used to reduce bank debt.

* * *

In the US, stocks fell on Friday (local time) after disappointing results from General Electric Co and Bank of America Corp demonstrated the road to economic recovery will be bumpy.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.7 per cent to 9995.91, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 0.8 per cent to 1087.68, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 0.8 per cent at 2156.80.

For the week the S&P 500 was up 1.5 per cent, the Dow up 1.3 per cent and the Nasdaq up 0.8 per cent.

- NZPA