KEY POINTS:
After a strong end to last week, the New Zealand sharemarket opened slightly easier today.
Amid general gloom for the retail sector, clothing chain owner Hallenstein Glasson was down 10c early to 325.
Last Thursday it reported group sales over the 14 weeks to May 11 down 5.3 per cent on a year ago.
By 10.10am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 1.12 points to 3656.08, having gained nearly 43 points on Friday.
The market was being helped early today by Fletcher Building, up 7c to 845, following a 33c gain on Friday with help coming from bargain hunters. Top stock Telecom was up 1c to 395 early today after a 12c rise on Friday.
Among other stocks to gain early were Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, adding 1c to 276. The stock gained 5c on Friday, with more than 8m shares traded as support came from investors who believe the NZ dollar will continue to weaken.
Nuplex was up 2c to 630 early today, Ryman Healthcare was up 3c to 173.
Among shares to fall early was Contact Energy, which shed 5c to 884 after a 12c gain on Friday.
Also down early were Auckland Airport which lost 2c to 228, Air New Zealand down 1c to 117, Steel & Tube down 2c to 306, Tenon down 1c to 89, and Trustpower down 7c to 848.
***
In the US on Friday (local time) stocks finished little changed as surging oil prices lifted energy shares and offset data that showed consumer confidence sank to its lowest in 28 years. But the lofty level of oil prices helped drive down other sectors.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 0.05 per cent to end at 12,986.80. The S&P inched up 1.78 points to 1425.35. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.19 per cent to 2528.85.
For the week, the Dow was up 1.9 per cent, the S&P was up 2.7 per cent and the Nasdaq was up 3.4 per cent.
- NZPA
