Share market loses ground as rates held

The New Zealand share market slipped in early trading, with key stocks losing ground or staying flat after the Reserve Bank did as expected and left official interest rates at a record low 2.5 per cent.

The rate decision, and accompanying comments, were followed by a fall in the New Zealand dollar which went from around US70.60c at the 9am rate announcement to be around US70.10c 90 minutes later.

Shortly after the market opened Fletcher Building was down 3c to 810, Contact Energy declined 4c to 605, and Telecom was unchanged on 224.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 3.47 points to 3222.72, after gaining 13 points yesterday when it closed at a seven-week high.

Steel & Tube was down 4c to 265 early, Sky TV fell 3c to 502, and Mainfreight slipped 2c to 610.

Port shares were more popular with Lyttelton up 3c to 238, and South Port gaining 4c to 262, but both increases were on low volume.

In the United States, bank and technology shares lifted Wall Street on hopes a revival in business demand will boost corporate profits.

The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 0.03 per cent to end unofficially at 10,567.33, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.5 per cent to 1145.61, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.8 per cent to 2358.95.

- NZPA