NZ sharemarket starts the week flat

File photo

The New Zealand sharemarket was flat shortly after the start of trading for the new week, after rises in the United States at the end of last week ended four days of losses.

Around 10.15am, the benchmark NZX-50 index was down just 0.02 points to 3506.34, having gained 7.4 points on Friday.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 4c early to 307, Hallenstein Glasson dropped 3c to 400, NZ Oil & Gas lost 2c to 95, and Telecom slipped 0.5c to 221.

Fletcher Building gained 3c to 899, NZX was up 2c to 227, Sky City lifted 2c to 370, and Contact Energy added 2c to 599.

The US market rebound on Friday was helped by an unexpectedly strong report in US payrolls, tempering worries that stocks could suffer the sharp declines seen last week in commodities.

Gains were trimmed late in the session on speculation that Greece might leave the euro zone.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.4 per cent to 12,638.81, the Standard & Poor's 500 added 0.4 per cent to 1340.20, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5 per cent to 2827.56.

For the week the Dow lost 1.3 per cent, the S&P fell 1.7 percent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.6 per cent.

- NZPA