NZ Shares: Market pauses after two-day surge

After surging for the first two days of the week, the New Zealand sharemarket was far more reserved in early trading today.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 0.35 points to 2819.40, having lifted 53 points yesterday and 46 points on Monday.

Among top stocks, Telecom was unchanged early at $2.78, while Fletcher Building lost 3c to $6.90 and Contact Energy was down 5c to $6.05.

The main early gains included Freightways up 8c to $3.10, Sanford up 5c to $5.60, The Warehouse up 5c to $3.80, Fisher & Paykel Appliances up 2c to 58, and Pike River Coal up 2c to 84.

Dual-listed bank ANZ was down 30c early to $21.00, while Ryman Healthcare slipped 2c to $1.50.

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In the United States, stocks fell as cautious investors fretted about impending bank stress test results and energy shares succumbed to the pressure of lower oil prices.

The drop halted a two-day run-up that had propelled the S&P 500 into positive territory for the year-to-date. The benchmark index had risen 34 per cent after touching a 12-year low in early March.

The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 0.2 per cent to 8410.65 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 0.4 per cent to 903.80, and the Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 0.5 per cent to 1754.12.

- NZPA