Shares down in early trade

The New Zealand sharemarket was lower in early trade, following on from yesterday's small decline to start the week.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 8.74 points to 3119.93, having yesterday given up 8.5 points.

Stocks falling early today included Contact Energy, down 6c to $5.95, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare down 6c to $3.26, and Mainfreight down 4c to $5.16.

Shares falling 3c included Ebos Group to $6.02, Methven to $1.57, Sky City to $3.30, and Trustpower to $7.41.

Top stock Telecom was unchanged early at $2.72, while another leader, Fletcher Building gained 3c to $7.94.

The New Zealand market's lacklustre start to the week yesterday was still better than the performance in Asia, where Japan led a sell-off as dealers moved in to take profits.

The benchmark Nikkei-225 index closed down 2.3 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 1.1 per cent. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 index fell 1.4 per cent and the broader All Ordinaries index dropped 1.3 per cent.

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But in the United States, stocks rose as reports of more merger activity added to a string of recent deals, suggesting investors still see value in the market after its runup of more than 50 per cent since March.

Optimism about potential deals overshadowed concerns about trade friction between the US and China after Washington imposed special duties on Chinese tyre imports.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 0.2 per cent at 9626.80, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.6 per cent at 1049.34, and the Nasdaq Composite Index finished 0.5 per cent higher at 2091.78.

- NZPA