Telecom shares fall in early trade

Shares in Telecom, the country's largest listed company, slipped in early trading on the New Zealand stock exchange after the company reported its full year results today.

Telecom reported a 43.9 per cent fall in net profit for the year to the end of June to $398 million.

In early trading its shares are down 5c to $2.62, having declined 3c yesterday.

Shares in Sky TV were up 2c to $4.65 after the company reported a 9.6 per cent fall in net profit for the year to June to $88.4m.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was flat, easing up just 0.57 points to 3053.68, after falling 27.9 points yesterday.

Shares in another leading stock, Fletcher Building, gained early, lifting 7c to $7.81.

Steel & Tube had a 5c gain to $3.15, Port of Tauranga was up 5c to $6.55, Nuplex added 5c to $2.20, and NZ Refining lifted 4c to $5.10.

Rakon lifted 3c to $1.41, Methven was up 2c to $1.50 and Fisher & Paykel Appliances gained 2c to 81.

Along with Telecom, other stocks falling early included Hallenstein Glasson, down 5c to $2.80, and dual-listed Westpac down 29c to $28.51 and Telstra down 8c to $4.45.

***

In the United States, stocks rose for a third straight session with financial stocks leading gains after US manufacturing data and a rebound in Chinese stocks reassured investors.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.8 per cent to end at 9350.05, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1.1 per cent to 1007.37, and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1 per cent to close at 1989.22.

- NZPA