Sharemarket falters, Freightways down 2.9pc

Freightways shares fell 2.9 per cent in early trading after the company reported a 7 per cent rise in full year net profit to $34.6 million.

The company, whose core express package business contributes most of its revenue and earnings, today said the result included a $3.9m gain on a property sale. Its shares fell 10c early to $3.30.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 14.43 points to 3136.83, after a 22.41-point rise on Friday.

The faltering start to the week follows a broad fall in stocks on Friday in the United States, where the major indexes snapped a four-week streak of gains.

Weak consumer sentiment data in the US fuelled concerns about the strength of an economic recovery.

Among stocks to fall early in this country were Sky TV, down 7c to $4.66, Sanford down 5c to $5.20, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare down 4c to $3.35, Michael Hill International down 4c to 67, and Cavalier Corporation down 3c to $2.47.

Top stock Telecom slipped 2c early to $2.73, while among the other market leaders Fletcher Building lost 5c to $7.93, and Contact Energy was unchanged on $6.35.

The few gains included Port of Tauranga up 5c to $6.65, Rakon up 2c to $1.49, Air NZ up 2c to $1.27, and NZ Farming Systems Uruguay up 2c to 49. NZX gained 14c early but on very low volume.

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In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average dipped 0.8 per cent to 9321.40, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 0.9 per cent to 1004.09, and the technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.2 per cent to 1985.52.

For the week, the Dow shed 0.5 per cent, the S&P fell 0.6 per cent and the Nasdaq slid 0.7 per cent.

- NZPA