NZ sharemarket edges up

The New Zealand sharemarket edged ahead in early trading, after stocks in the United States broke a five-day winning streak on Friday.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index is up 3.3 points to 3140.5, after gaining 10.5 points on Friday.

Steel & Tube was down 13c early to $3.42, after an 11c gain on Friday, while Trustpower lost 5c to $7.45, and Air NZ dropped 3c to $1.22.

Early gains were recorded by NZ Oil & Gas, up 3c to $1.64, Cavalier Corporation up 3c to $2.50, and Mainfreight up 2c to $5.15.

Among leading shares, Telecom was down 1c to $2.71, Fletcher Building up 1c to $7.96 and Contact Energy up 1c to $6.07.

***

The fall in stocks in the US came on a drop in crude oil prices.

Data showing a stronger-than-expected rise in consumer sentiment and a bright outlook from shipper FedEx were not enough to motivate buyers in an equities market recently saturated with good news, analysts said.

"Both equities and oil are exhausted. Money has been coming out of (US) dollar into equities and holding up energy all this week," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey.

As long as the US dollar remained weak, stocks would not see a hefty correction since cash was moving out of the US dollar and into risk-associated assets.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.2 per cent at 9605.41, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 0.1 per cent at 1042.73, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.2 per cent at 2080.90.

For the week, the Dow was up 1.7 per cent, the S&P was up 2.6 per cent, and the Nasdaq was up 3.1 per cent.

- NZPA