Shares open flat early

The New Zealand sharemarket was flat in early trading.

Mainfreight lost 5c to 560 early after reporting a 29 per cent fall in net profit before abnormals to $12.2 million for the six months to the end of September.

But the company said that importantly, second quarter performance saw revenues and profitability improve markedly from the first quarter's results.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was unchanged on 305 after it said net profit rose 31 per cent to $37m for the six months to September.

The record profit was a result of strong revenue growth in the obstructive sleep apnea product group, continuing strong demand for respiratory products and favourable foreign exchange hedging results, the company said.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 1.47 points to 3126.93, having yesterday closed down 3.1 points.

Among shares falling early, Cavalier Corp was down 4c to $2.41, Freightways fell 4c to $3.10, Contact Energy slipped 2c to $5.88, and Trustpower was down 2c to $7.45.

Shares rising early included Ebos Group, up 5c to $5.95 on low volume, NZ Refining up 5c to $5.15, Fletcher Building up 2c to $7.92, and The Warehouse up 2c to $4.10. Telecom was unchanged on $2.56.

Allied Farmers dropped 4c to 31, following a 2c rise yesterday after it announced a proposal to buy the assets of Hanover Finance and Hanover subsidiary United Finance.

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In the United States, investors turned cautious as an unexpected drop in home construction and disappointing forecasts from technology companies raised concerns about the economy's recovery.

The modest drop came a day after stocks closed at 13-month highs.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed provisionally down 0.1 per cent at 10,426.31, the S&P 500 index edged down 0.1 per cent at 1109.80, and the Nasdaq composite index was down 0.5 per cent at 2193.14.

- NZPA