NZ Shares: Market eases early, despite small Telecom gain

The New Zealand sharemarket lost ground early, despite leading stock Telecom easing ahead in early trading.

Telecom was up 2c shortly after the market opened to $2.39, while Fletcher Building gave up 10c of yesterday's 32c gain to be at $6.42. Contact Energy was down 2c early to $5.60.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 7.51 points to 2592.31, having yesterday closed up 28.7 points or 1.1 per cent.

Mainfreight gave up half of yesterday's gain to be down 10c early at $4.10, while Fisher & Paykel Healthcare lost 5c early to $2.85, Freightways was down 4c to $2.66, Infratil dropped 3c to $1.48, Sky City eased 2c to $2.79, and Xero was down 4c to $1.26.

Along with Telecom, the few stocks to gain early included Tower, rising 2c to $1.28, and Smiths City Group which added 4c to 35.

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In the United States, stocks fell as a surprising drop in retail sales dented hopes the recession was abating and financial shares slid on fears that Goldman Sachs' share offering could prompt others to follow suit.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1.7 per cent to 7920.18, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 2 per cent to 841.50, and the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 1.7 per cent to 1625.72.

The sell-off halted a three-day run-up in the S&P 500, but the benchmark index is still up 24 per cent since hitting a 12-year closing low on March 9.

In a major speech, US President Barack Obama said there were signs of recovery, but "by no means are we out of the woods just yet".

- NZPA