Flat start for NZ shares

The New Zealand sharemarket was flat in early trading, as Telecom clawed back 1c early from the historic low it closed at on Friday.

Telecom edged up to $2.12, while NZ Refining Co lifted 9c to $3.85, The Warehouse was up 5c to $3.95, Rakon up 4c to 96, Fletcher Building lifted 4c to $8.39, and Air New Zealand was up 3c to $1.33.

Retailer Hallenstein Glasson fell 14c to $3.46, and Sky City fell 6c to $3.36, as both went ex-dividend.

Tower fell 5c to $1.94, Ebos Group was down 4c to $6.40, NZX dropped 3c to $1.92, Nuplex fell 3c to $3.27, and Port of Tauranga dropped 3c to $7.02.

Around 10.20am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 0.45 points to 3230.85, after gaining 9.7 points on Friday.

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In the United States, renewed worries about Greece sparked a climb in the greenback and weighed on US stocks.

Sectors sensitive to US dollar moves were hit hard, including materials, chip makers and energy.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.4 per cent to end at 10,741.98, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 0.5 per cent to 1159.90, and the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.7 per cent to 2374.41.

For the week, the Dow rose 1.1 per cent, the S&P added 0.9 per cent and the Nasdaq gained 0.3 per cent.

- NZPA