NZ sharemarket regains some lost ground early

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The New Zealand sharemarket made modest early gains after yesterday ending at its lowest close in nearly eight weeks.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 4.73 points to 3481.41, after yesterday ending down 13.9 points although its intraday low of 3474 was before the two biggest aftershocks in Christchurch.

Fletcher Building gained 4c to 871, SkyCity lifted 2c to 356, Rakon was up 2c to 106, NZX added 5c to 234, Hallenstein Glasson was up 2c to 385, Contact Energy was up 1c to 583, and Telecom edged up 0.5c to 227.5.

Trustpower fell 7c early to 733, Tower was down 6c to 172, and Port of Tauranga lost 4c to 870.

In the United States, stocks drifted sideways in what may only be a temporary pause from a sell-off brought on by growing fears of another economic downturn.

Investors remained noncommittal about whether stocks have become cheap enough after six weeks of selling to pour some money back into equities again.

The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 0.01 per cent to end at 11,952.97, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.1 per cent to 1271.83, while the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.2 per cent to close at 2639.69.

- NZPA