KEY POINTS:
The local sharemarket opened flat today as Wall Street's rally petered out with credit concerns to the fore.
US investors initially had extended yesterday's huge rally on the back of the Federal Reserve's co-ordinated action with other central banks to pump more liquidity into the global financial system.
But the enthusiasm was short-lived as the market began worrying about the effectiveness of the large-scale action, which included the Fed's offer of US$200 billion ($251 billion) in a new auction to banks and brokerages hit by gridlocked market conditions for mortgage-backed securities.
Here, the NZSX-50 was down 0.3 of a point to 3544 at 10.15am after it posted an insipid 24-point rally yesterday.
Auckland Airport was up 9c to 228 as the Canada Pension Plan neared its takeover target of 39.5 per cent. Last night it had 38.3 per cent and its seems certain to win that part of the bid. It also needs majority support for its amalgamation proposal and then needs to escape veto from cabinet ministers overseeing foreign ownership rules.
Telecom, which lost 2c against yesterday's rising market, was down another 2c today to 392.
Fletcher Building fell 8c to 900 with house price statistics yesterday and the collapse of a major building company adding to bearish sentiment in the construction industry.
Contact Energy lost 3c of yesterday's 13c gain to be on 831.
Retailer Hallenstein Glasson was down 7c to 383, while chip maker Rakon was up 5c to 240 and Steel & Tube was down 5c to 3256.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 45.18 points or 0.37 per cent, lower on 12,111.63 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 11.89 points or 0.53 per cent to 2243.87.
The broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 11.63 points or 0.88 per cent at 1309.02.
- NZPA