NZ sharemarket down early

The New Zealand sharemarket was down in early trading as leading stocks Fletcher Building and Telecom both slipped.

Fletcher Building reversed its gain yesterday with a 3c fall to $8.49, while Telecom edged down 1c to $2.14, and Contact Energy was unchanged on $6.24.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 3.27 points to 3301.7, having yesterday closed up 11.9 points.

Among shares losing ground early, Ebos Group dropped 5c to $6.40, Pumpkin Patch fell 4c to $2.25, Scott Technology was down 4c to $1.28, Cavalier Corp was down 2c to $2.74, and NZX fell 2c to $1.80.

NZ Refining Co rose 4c to $3.84 on thin volume ahead of its annual meeting today.

Among other shares chalking up early gains, Port of Tauranga gained 4c to $6.90, Mainfreight lifted 3c to $6.68, Sky TV added 3c to $5.15, Tower added 2c to $2.03 and Nuplex was up 2c to $3.25.

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In the United States, stocks finished little changed as disappointing outlooks from healthcare companies offset strong earnings from Morgan Stanley and Apple.

Healthcare stocks took a beating after both Abbott Laboratories and Gilead Sciences cut profit forecasts. Both Abbott and Gilead cited the impact of costs from US healthcare reform in their outlooks.

The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 0.1 per cent to 11,124.92, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dipped 0.1 per cent to 1205.94, and the Nasdaq Composite Index inched up 0.2 per cent to 2504.61.

- NZPA