KEY POINTS:
Shares edged higher in early trading today although top stock Telecom continued its southward journey.
US stocks ended lower as nervousness about further write-downs knocked down financial shares and weaker-than-expected revenue from Oracle Corp fuelled concerns about tech sector spending.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 4.4 points to 3410 at 10.20am.
Market leader Telecom was down 2c to 276, just 4c off a 15-year low hit earlier on March 17. Australian media are speculating the company may trim its quarterly dividend to 6c from 7c and the market is looking for announcements on vacant top executive positions.
Star of the morning is Mainfreight, up 38c to 600.
Steel & Tube also performed well, rising 15c to 300.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances, which yesterday slid 8c to a five-and-a-half-year low after saying it would hold on to its finance company, a move expected in difficult market conditions, recovered 3c to 233.
Fletcher Building was down 3c to 831, while PGG Wrightson was up 6c to 207.
ANZ Bank was up 67c to 2797.
Among the small stocks Mr Chips lost 8c to 190 while Genesis Research was up 3c to 15c.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 120.16 points, or 0.97 per cent, to end unofficially at 12,302.70. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 15.36 points, or 1.15 per cent, to 1325.77 and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 43.53 points, or 1.87 per cent, to 2280.83.
- NZPA
