KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket was steady in early business today after having one of its biggest one day gains in months yesterday fuelled by a surge in Auckland Airport.
Auckland Airport continued to fly high, rising another 8c to 328, having risen 48c, or 13 per cent, to a high of 330 yesterday, after the company said Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) had been approaching its shareholders in an attempt to buy shares prior to a possible bid.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 0.80 of a point on 4302.38 at 10.10am. Turnover was light, valued at $18 million. Rises outnumbered falls 77 to 42. There were 28 rises and 11 falls among the 74 stocks traded.
Fletcher Building, which rose 15c to 1286 yesterday, was up 4c to 1290. The other two of the top trio were down -- Telecom by 5c to 463 and Contact Energy by 3c to 902.
Air NZ was up 2c to 312 and TrustPower was 4c to 839 while Hallenstein Glasson was down 8c to 510 .
* * *
In the US, stock indexes trod water as oil prices above US$69 ($92.71) a barrel took a toll on energy-dependent sectors and offset some of the gains from a fresh round of corporate takeovers.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 9.83 points to 13,629.65. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index eased 0.46 of a point to 1,532.45 and the Nasdaq Composite Index 0.03 of a point to 2,626.68.
- NZPA