NZ sharemarket falls early

The New Zealand sharemarket fell in early trading, following falls in global equities as dismal housing data in the United States added to fears the global economic recovery will fizzle out.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 6.17 points to 3018.47, after yesterday gaining 7.9 points.

Fletcher Building fell 8c early to $7.45, taking back more than half of yesterday's 13c gain, while Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 3c to $2.82. Auckland Airport fell 2c to $1.96, and Freightways dropped 2c to 283.

Shares in Michael Hill International were up 2c to 67c after the Hill family said it wanted to consolidate its shareholding into a single entity, and lift its shareholding in the company to about 50.1 percent from about 48 percent now.

Contact Energy rose 2c early to $5.75, and Restaurant Brands rose 2c to $2.47.

Telecom edged up 1c to $2.04. Shortly before the market opened it announced Nick Olson, who has been with the company since 2002, would be chief financial officer from October 1.

Most recently Mr Olson was group controller, and he had played a leading role in developing Telecom's ultra fast broadband proposal to the Government, Telecom said.

Around the world, stocks fell, with the gloom deepened by a report showing July sales of existing homes in the US dropped a record 27.2 percent from June to an annual rate of 3.83 million units.

The Dow Jones industrial average slumped 1.3 percent to 10,040.45, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 1.5 percent to 1051.87, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.7 percent to 2123.76.

Major European shares shed more than 1.6 percent and the MSCI world equity index fell 1.4 percent.