KEY POINTS:
A strong showing on Wall Street failed to lift the local sharemarket much in early trading.
The NZSX-50 index was down 3.1 points to 4054.38 at 10.20am on below average turnover worth $25 million. Falls and rises were matched at 16-all among the 69 stocks traded.
The market's main boost came from market leader Telecom, which was up 4c to 420.
The morning high flier was Port of Tauranga, which was up 18c to 695 on light turnover.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances was down 4c to 335 thanks to the kiwi dollar being up near US78c.
Takeover target Auckland Airport was down 6c to 284.
Steel & Tube was down 3c to 355 but there were no other moves above 2c in the top 50.
Restaurant Brands was untraded after it reported a third quarter increase in sales of 1.9 per cent to $69.1 million, with KFC performing well while Pizza Hut continued to drag. Same store sales increased 1.8 per cent for the 12 weeks ended December 3, compared to the corresponding period a year ago. It last traded at 90c.
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In the US, stocks rose as investors welcomed cash infusions into bond insurer MBIA Inc and Swiss bank UBS as votes of confidence in the battered financial sector.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 101.45 points, or 0.74 per cent, to end unofficially at 13,727.03. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 11.30 points, or 0.75 per cent, to finish unofficially at 1515.96 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 12.79 points to close unofficially at 2718.95.
- NZPA