diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index 33ad3aa..e2f2c69 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -376,6 +376,7 @@ static int store_updated_refs(const char *raw_url, const char *remote_name,
 	struct strbuf note = STRBUF_INIT;
 	const char *what, *kind;
 	struct ref *rm;
+	int top = 1;
 	char *url, *filename = dry_run ? "/dev/null" : git_path("FETCH_HEAD");
 
 	fp = fopen(filename, "a");
@@ -393,6 +394,7 @@ static int store_updated_refs(const char *raw_url, const char *remote_name,
 		goto abort;
 	}
 
+ write:
 	for (rm = ref_map; rm; rm = rm->next) {
 		struct ref *ref = NULL;
 
@@ -408,6 +410,9 @@ static int store_updated_refs(const char *raw_url, const char *remote_name,
 		if (!commit)
 			rm->merge = 0;
 
+		if (top != rm->merge)
+			continue;
+
 		if (!strcmp(rm->name, "HEAD")) {
 			kind = "";
 			what = "";
@@ -474,6 +479,11 @@ static int store_updated_refs(const char *raw_url, const char *remote_name,
 		}
 	}
 
+	if (top) {
+		top = 0;
+		goto write;
+	}
+
 	if (rc & STORE_REF_ERROR_DF_CONFLICT)
 		error(_("some local refs could not be updated; try running\n"
 		      " 'git remote prune %s' to remove any old, conflicting "