NZ Shares: Market flat despite early Telecom fall

The New Zealand sharemarket was flat in early trading, despite a 3 per cent fall for top stock Telecom to start the week.

Along with the early 8c fall by Telecom to $2.52, another leading share, Fletcher Building, was also down, slipping 3c to $6.40, but Contact Energy was up 5c to $5.90.

Around 10.15am, the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 0.67 points to 2761.21, having closed down 15.8 points on Friday.

Among the stocks helping the index stay near level, NZX lifted 10c to $8.40 and Port of Tauranga was up 5c to $6.05, but both on low volume.

Sky TV was up 3c to $4.19, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 2c to $3.12 and NZ Farming Systems Uruguay gained 2c to 60.

Shares falling early included Freightways, down 3c to $2.95, Tower down 2c to $1.62, Sky City down 2c to $2.86, and Air NZ down 2c to $1.07.

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In the United States, Wall Street reversed course late Friday, finishing lower as early gains built on better earnings reports from retailers faded away.

Trading was choppy, and the market's swings were exaggerated by light volume ahead of the Memorial Day weekend.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.2 per cent to 8277.32, the S&P 500 index slipped 0.2 per cent to 887.00 and the Nasdaq composite index lost 0.2 per cent to 1692.01.

Despite the market's seesaw movements last week, all the major indicators finished the five-day period in the black. The Dow rose 0.1 per cent; the S&P 500 index rose 0.5 per cent; and the Nasdaq rose 0.7 per cent.

- NZPA