NZ market flat early

NZ sharemarket - open

The New Zealand sharemarket was flat in early trading, with a lift in Fletcher Building stock to a new seven-week high being one of the few moves of any note.

Yesterday Fletcher had eased 1c despite a surprisingly strong jump of 5.9 percent in November for approvals to build new homes in Australia. Early today Fletcher shares lifted 4c to 805.

OceanaGold shares continued their recent ascent, adding 8c early to a month high 250.

But after reaching a seven-week intraday high of 258 yesterday, shares in Telecom were down 2c to 255 early today.

Around 10.20am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 1.03 points to 3272.60, its highest level in 15 months, after gaining 3.4 points yesterday.

The few early changes today included Infratil up 2c to 164, NZX down 3c to 233, Nuplex down 2c to 295, and retailer Briscoe Group down 2c to 123.

In the United States, the stock market ended little changed following mixed economic reports and as minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting point to divisions among policymakers.

A trade group's report that its service industry index rose was welcome news, but a private snapshot of private sector jobs fell short of expectations.

Preliminary figures put the Dow Jones industrial average up 0.02 percent at 10,574, the Standard & Poor's 500 index up 0.05 percent at 1137, and the Nasdaq composite index down 0.3 percent at 2301.

- NZPA