KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket was flat in early trade, after equities in the United States ended lower.
Among leading shares Contact Energy was down 5c to 565, and Fletcher Building down 1c, while Telecom gained 3c early to 244.
Restaurant Brands, operator of KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks Coffee franchises, added 3c to 65.
Yesterday it said it had a more profitable end to the financial year than anticipated, and lifted its expected net profit for the year to the end of February.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 0.69 points to 2496.74, after yesterday dropping 2.4 points.
Nuplex gained 5c to 125, after a 15c fall yesterday when it said its interim dividend had been suspended and it was continuing to talk to its bankers.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 4c early to 330, Infratil was down 2c to 161, and Mainfreight down 2c to 346.
US stocks fell in volatile trade as investors sold off shares of healthcare companies such as Merck & Co on worries that President Barack Obama's budget proposal would strangle profits.
A batch of sour economic data added to the gloom, spurring investors to sell shares of big consumer companies such as McDonald's Corp and Coca-Cola Co.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down a preliminary 1.2 per cent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 1.6 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 2.4 per cent.
- NZPA