KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket started the week with a slight lift, as Auckland International Airport directors changed their minds and recommended shareholders sell into a partial takeover bid.
By 10.10am today the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 10.42 points to 3580.03, after a 17-point fall on Friday.
Auckland Airport shares were up 8c early to 288, after the company said its directors were unanimously recommending shareholders sell shares into a takeover offer from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).
Despite that, the directors also voted four-to-two that shareholders should vote against CPPIB acquiring 40 per cent of Auckland Airport.
Sky City was down 5c early to 386, after reporting a 97.1 per cent fall in first half net profit to $1.3 million, with the main factor being a $60m write-down in the carrying value of the company's cinema assets, which the market was previously told about.
Without that write-down, net profit for the six months to the end of December would have been up 36.2 per cent to $61.3m, while revenue was up 1 per cent to $424.2m, and underlying operating earnings were up 3 per cent to $152.7m.
Other stocks to fall early today included Infratil, down 6c to 239, top stock Telecom down 5c to 396, Tourism Holdings down 4c to 185, and Tower down 6c to 204.
Among stocks to rise early were Contact Energy, up 3c to 768, Fletcher Building up 5c to 955, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 3c to 265, Hellaby Holdings up 8c to 196, Nuplex up 3c to 568, Pumpkin Patch up 4c to 188, and Rakon up 5c to 280.
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US stocks rallied late on Friday on news that banks were near an agreement to bail out bond insurer Ambac Financial, a deal that could prevent further damage to the banking industry and credit markets.
Earlier, financial shares had led the decline after Merrill Lynch & Co recommended investors sell Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the biggest US home financing companies in anticipation of further deterioration in financial markets.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.79 per cent to end at 12,381.02. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.79 per cent to 1353.11. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.16 per cent to close at 2303.35.
For the week, the Dow ended up 0.3 per cent and the S&P 500 gained 0.2 per cent, while the Nasdaq fell 0.8 per cent.
- NZPA