KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket had a flat start to the week, taking its lead from top stock Telecom.
Soon after its 10am opening today, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 1.53 points to 4162.77.
Telecom was down 1c early to 473, following a 13c fall on Friday, which came after a near 4 per cent surge on Thursday.
Brokers had attributed the end of week softness to uncertainty over the size of a promised capital return and news that Telecom was offering to spin off its copper wire network rather than accept the Government's latest regulatory proposal.
Another leading stock to start lower today was Fletcher Building, off 3c early to 1145, having climbed 24c on Friday on moderate volume after indicating it was looking at buying a business for between $700-$800 million within the next year.
With the New Zealand dollar continuing a rise to a post-float high against the greenback Auckland Airport was down 2c early to 241, on turnover of 600,000 shares. Air New Zealand was unchanged, also on 241.
Other stocks to fall early today included Hallenstein Glasson down 6c to 499, Sky TV down 5c to 585, and Steel & Tube down 4c to 421.
Early risers included Nuplex up 3c to 750, Property for Industry up 1c to 149, and Ryman Healthcare up 1c to 237.
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The lacklustre start to trading in this country comes after US stocks ended last week with an advance on Friday, boosted by stronger profit outlooks from drug maker Merck & Co and fast-food restaurant chain McDonald's Corp.
The S&P 500 has now recovered all of its losses since late February when a tumble in the Chinese stock market sent equities reeling worldwide. The Dow and the Nasdaq have yet to fully recover their losses from that sell-off.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.47 per cent on Friday, to end the week at 12,612.13. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.35 per cent to 1452.85, while the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.47 per cent to close at 2491.94.
- NZPA