KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket continued its sideways drift in early trading today, failing to take comfort from Wall Street closing in on a record high.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 4.37 points to 4172.65 at 10.10am.
Dampening enthusiasm in the equities market was the rise of the New Zealand dollar to near a post float high of US74.5c.
Telecom was down 1c at 481, the same as yesterday's loss, following a 1.9 per cent spike on Monday.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances, likely to be hit by the high kiwi, was down 5c to 360.
Fishing company Sanford, which yesterday warned of a disappointing first half result due to the high dollar eating into profit, was untraded.
Sky TV, expected to be a beneficiary of the high dollar because of lower costs of programming, lost 4c to 611 after jumping 23c yesterday.
Air NZ, also expected to benefit from the high kiwi due to lower leasing and fuel costs, fell 4c to 240.
Vector lost the 3c it gained yesterday to be back on 297.
AMP Office Trust requested a trading halt pending an announcement.
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In the United States, the Dow industrials ended just short of a new record high, helped by better-than-expected profits at companies such as Johnson & Johnson and data showing tamer inflation.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 52.58 points, or 0.41 per cent, to end at 12,773.04. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index advanced 3.01 points, or 0.20 per cent, to finish at 1471.48. The Nasdaq Composite Index, however, slipped 1.38 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 2516.95.
- NZPA