The New Zealand sharemarket was quiet in early trading, following a relatively weak performance from overseas markets as US weekly jobless claims raised concerns and investors anticipate more disappointing US payroll numbers tonight.Investors continue to
The New Zealand sharemarket was quiet in early trading, following a relatively weak performance from overseas markets as US weekly jobless claims raised concerns and investors anticipate more disappointing US payroll numbers tonight.
Investors continue to assess the strength of the recovery as jobless claims in the US jumped to 479,000 for the week ending July 31, the highest since early April, dimming optimism ahead of the monthly non-farm payrolls report.
Economists polled by Reuters are expecting the US Labour Department report to show a drop of 65,000 in non-farm payrolls in July.
In New Zealand, an unexpectedly large rise in the unemployment rate to 6.8 percent in the June quarter raised questions about the strength of the recovery here and led economists to call for a pause in the monetary policy tightening cycle begun in June.
The benchmark NZX-50 index opened up 2.714 points, or 0.089 percent, at 3047.382, with the majority of stocks opening unmoved.
Pike River Coal was up 1c to 98, New Zealand Oil and Gas was up 1c to 122, Fletcher Building was up 1c tp 155 and Auckland Airport was up 1c to 199.
Among the few losers, Mainfreight fell 1c to 674, Restaurant Brand dropped 1c to 244, and AMP Office Trust fell 1c to 71.
Ebos Group Ltd fell 5c to 665, after rising to 670 yesterday when it announced its annual result on August 26 would reflect another excellent trading year for the medical equipment supplier.
Telecom remained unchanged at 202 in early trading, after gaining 1c yesterday, and Contact Energy was flat at 569.
In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 5.45 points, or 0.05 percent, to 10,674.98. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index dropped 1.43 points, or 0.13 percent, to 1125.81. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 10.51 points, or 0.46 percent, to 2293.06.
