KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket was up in early trade today, having hit a 16-month low on Friday.
By 10.20am today the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 17.4 points to 3528.21, having fallen to a new low for the year of 3498 during trading on Friday, ending the day down 40.4 points or 1.1 per cent.
Leading the market up today was top stock Telecom which rose 3c early to 411, adding to a 3c gain on Friday.
Auckland International Airport, reported to be going to review its advice shareholders reject a partial offer from a Canadian pension fund, was up 7c to 260.
Opus International Consultants was up 5c early to 160. The majority Malaysian-owned company which was floated last October today reported an annual net profit after tax up 6.5 per cent to $14.2 million.
Other shares to rise early today included Contact Energy up 5c to 750, Fletcher Building up 5c to 905, Guinness Peat Group up 2c to 142, and Pumpkin Patch up 2c to 192.
Also up was Ryman Healthcare, adding 3c to 168, Sky City up 2c to 395, and Trustpower up 10c to 740 on small turnover.
Stocks to fall early included The Warehouse, down 7c to 565, Restaurant Brands down 2c to 80c, Property for Industry down 10c to 115, and Hellaby Holdings down 3c to 193
In the US, the Dow Jones industrial index and the Nasdaq slipped on Friday on concerns about consumer spending after an index of consumer sentiment fell to a 16-year low and retailer Best Buy warned that shopper traffic dropped off after the holidays.
But the S&P 500 managed a small gain thanks largely to a rally in food stocks on news that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway had taken a stake in Kraft Foods, and as Campbell Soup and HJ Heinz gave reassuring profit outlooks for the year. All three companies gained more than 5 per cent.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.23 per cent at 12,348.21. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.08 per cent at 1349.99. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.46 per cent at 2321.80.
For the week, the S&P 500 and the Dow both added 1.4 per cent. The Nasdaq climbed 0.7 per cent.
- NZPA
