NZ shares gain early

The New Zealand sharemarket gained early, with Fletcher Building shares lifting nearly 2 per cent in the first few minutes of trading.

Fletcher was up 14c early to $7.72, leading stock Telecom lifted 1c to $2.74, and another leader, Contact Energy, added 1c to $6.21.

The benchmark NZX-50 index is up 11 points to 3086, having closed down 10 points yesterday, which was relatively good compared to other markets.

Shares rising early today included NZX, up 5c to $7.60, Ebos Group up 5c to $5.90, NZ Farming Systems Uruguay up 4c to 50, Hallenstein Glasson up 4c to $2.74, Sky TV up 3c to $4.53, and Nuplex up 3c to $2.33.

Dual-listed banks had contrasting fortunes early, with Westpac lifting 50c to $30.00 and ANZ down 35c to $26.05.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 2c to $3.36 and NZ Refining Co down 2c to $5.03.

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In the United States, stocks fell as jitters about the economy prompted investors to unload some shares for a fourth-straight day even after a sharp drop in the previous session.

Major indexes fluctuated between positive and negative territory throughout the day before closing in the red.

A labour market report showing more private sector job losses in August than forecast made investors nervous ahead of Friday's highly anticipated monthly jobs data from the US Labor Department.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 0.3 per cent at 9280.67, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 0.3 per cent to 994.75, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.1 per cent to 1967.07.

- NZPA