Sharemarket up in early trade

The New Zealand sharemarket edged up in early trading after taking a breather in the past two days from the rally that started in mid-July.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 3.28 points to 3059.43, having shed 27.9 points yesterday.

Top stock Telecom gained 4c in early trading to $2.79, while another leading stock, Fletcher Building, was down 3c to $7.32.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare gained 2c to $3.27 and Restaurant Brands added 2c to $1.02.

Sky TV lost 7c on thin volumes to $4.58, Steel & Tube was down 3c to $3.23, and Mainfreight slipped 2c to $4.75.

No trading was recorded in NZX, which reported half year net profits of $60.76 million, compared to $4.97 million a year earlier, with the increase largely attributed to asset sales.

NZX shares closed at $7.71 yesterday, having ranged between $8.18 and $4.18 in the past year.

***

In the United Stocks stocks fell as investors turned cautious a day ahead of a crucial government report on July employment, and took profits after recent strong gains.

The stock market's second day of declines came on the heels of a four-day rally that had pushed US indexes to close at their highest levels since last fall.

The Dow Jones industrial average declined 0.3 per cent to 9256.26, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 0.6 per cent to 997.08, and the Nasdaq Composite Index slid 1 per cent to 1973.16.

- NZPA