NZ Shares: Market down on Telecom

The New Zealand sharemarket retreated early, as top stock Telecom gave up more than half the gain made yesterday when someone bought 2.5 million of its shares as the exchange was closing.

After closing up 10c yesterday to $2.80, the price at which the order was placed, Telecom shares were down 6c to $2.74 in the first few minutes after the market opened today.

The benchmark NZX-50 index is down 6.7 points to 2743 wiping yesterday's 4.4-point gain.

The Telecom fall was the main weakness among the top 50 shares on the market, with the next biggest early declines being a 2c fall by Restaurant Brands to $1.02, and a 2c fall to $1.30 by Methven.

Early gains were also modest, with Fletcher Building the best performer, gaining 4c to $6.45, The Warehouse up 2c to $3.73, and ING Property Trust up 2c to 65.

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In the United States, stocks rebounded in late trade after a day of wild price swings, with the Dow and Nasdaq eking out gains as investors hoped that corporate results would top estimates as the quarterly earnings season prepared to kick off.

Stocks were sharply lower for most of the day as investors worried that an economic recovery will be slower than thought.

The earnings season unofficially began after the bell, with the release of results from aluminium giant Alcoa, the first Dow component to report. Investors are concerned that companies will have little good news in their quarterly reports and outlooks.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.2 per cent to 8178.41, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 0.2 per cent to 879.56, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.1 per cent to 1747.17.

- NZPA