KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket eased in early trading after Wall Street dropped 0.9 per cent on renewed recession fears and worries about bank collapses.
Air New Zealand fell 3c to 173 despite hiking its dividend by two thirds to 5cps.
The airline, 80 owned by the Government, lifted its December half year net profit by 58 per cent to $115 million and said it was on track to improve normalised earnings for the full year.
The NZSX-50 index was down 4 points to 3576 at 10.20am. Turnover was moderate at $43m.
Market leader Telecom, down near 15-year lows, was up 1c to 392. Communications Minister David Cunliffe today rejected Telecom's amended separation package.
Fletcher Building was down 2c to 940 while Contact Energy was down 1c to 773.
The Warehouse fell 25 to 590 after Woolworths and Foodstuffs agreed yesterday to a moratorium not to bid for the company before May 1.
Mainfreight rose 6c to 666 and Skellerup rose 4c to 88.
On the downside, Mainfreight fell 3c to 340, Sky City 4c to 386, Vector 4c to 185 and Sky TV 3c to 503.
Metlifecare plunged 9 per cent, 49c, to 501 after posting a poor result yesterday.
New Zealand Oil and Gas continued its good run after its result this week, rising 4c to 134.
In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 112.10 points, or 0.88 per cent, to end unofficially at 12,582.18.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 12.34 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 1367.68 and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 22.21 points, or 0.94 per cent, to close unofficially at 2331.57.
- NZPA
