KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket continued to drift today as it has for most of this month.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 2.12 points to 4172.83 at 10.20am.
Strongest performer was Contact Energy, up 7c to 910. Fellow power firm Trustpower was up 5c to 840.
Telecom was down 1c to 482 after gaining 1.9 per cent yesterday as private equity investors circled on talk about a split of the company. Last week it was offering to spin off its copper wire network rather than accept the Government's latest regulatory proposal.
Retailer The Warehouse, which yesterday rose 15c to a four year high, today eased back 4c to 726. One broker is suggesting 10 per cent owner Woolworths could bid up to $8 a share for the company.
Rival retailer Briscoe was up 3c to 173.
F&P Appliances, which yesterday rose 5c despite the kiwi dollar hitting US74c, was down 3c to 364.
Nuplex was down 7c to 738.
Trading in APN News & Media was briefly halted, then re-opened later when
Independent News and Media increased its offer for APN to A$6.20 ($7.06) a share from A$6.10.
APN publishes 23 daily regional and 100 non-daily papers in Australia and New Zealand.
Controversial texting company Plus SMS Holdings also requested a trading halt in its share trading pending an announcement. Plus SMS shares have plunged from 74 cents a year ago to 12.5 cents yesterday.
Abano Healthcare was down 6c to 299.
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On Wall Street, US stocks rallied to complete their recovery from a late February sell-off as Citigroup's results, a deal for student lender Sallie Mae and upbeat retail data suggested a strong economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 108.33 points, or 0.86 per cent, to end at 12,720.46 -- not far below its lifetime high of 12,795.93. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index shot up 15.62 points, or 1.08 per cent, to finish at 1,468.47. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 26.39 points, or 1.06 per cent, to close at 2,518.33.
- NZPA