KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket opened down today after a week of slight rises.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 4 points to 3640 at 10.15am today after closing up slightly yesterday and most of last week.
The local sharemarket started the week in modestly positive form yesterday, shrugging off a flat Friday night on Wall St.
US stocks began the week little changed on Monday as rising oil prices stoked fears that corporate profits will suffer, overshadowing optimism about the easing of the credit crisis.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 3.01 points, ending at 12,612.43.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 2.12 points finishing at 1372.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 6.15 points at 2364.83.
Back home, top stock Telecom was untraded early at 406, while The Warehouse was down 3c to 576, Sky City 1c to 408, Hallenstein Glassons 4c to 395, Fisher and Paykel Appliances 5c to 232 and Auckland Airport 3c to 222.
Infratil was up 1c to 215 and Fletcher Building unchanged at 860.
- NZPA