KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket tentatively rose in early trading today after Wall Street had a mixed session influenced by a poor performance from No 2 bank, Bank of America.
The rise was despite a hefty drop in consumer confidence to its lowest level in a decade.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 8.9 points to 3439.2 at 10.20am.
Market leader Telecom continued to be a drag on the market, losing 3c to 382.
Second-ranked Fletcher Building, which yesterday went ex-dividend to the tune of 24c and ended the day down 26c, was up 15c to 845 today.
However, Contact Energy continued to head south, losing 5c to 805 after losing 14c yesterday.
Auckland Airport, which lost 12c yesterday on nerves the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board deal may not go through, lost another 1c today to 219.
Hallenstein Glasson was up 14c to 365 while two exporters that have had a rough time this year both gained strongly - Pumpkin Patch rose 9c to 185 and Rakon was up 10c to 240.
Air NZ was up 2c to 132.
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In the US, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices rose as rebounding metal and oil prices lifted mining and energy shares, offsetting news of the biggest drop in consumer confidence in five years.
The Dow ended slightly lower, held back by a 3.5 per cent drop in Bank of America Corp after a brokerage advised investors to sell the stock, citing the No 2 US bank's exposure to the bursting housing bubble.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 16.04 points, or 0.13 per cent, to close at 12,532.60. But the Standard & Poor's 500 Index inched up 3.11 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 1352.99 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 14.30 points, or 0.61 per cent, to close at 2341.05.
- NZPA