KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket continued to edge higher today after yesterday holding up in the face of weak markets in Australia and Asia.
Wall Street wobbled to a mixed close as the markets digested a tough message on inflation from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that sparked talk of rates hikes from the central bank.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 4.8 points to 3511 at 10.20am. Turnover was boosted by a large transaction in Wakefield Hospital which was up 75c to 900 after the Cushing family sold an 7 per cent stake at that price.
Top stock Telecom was steady on 386, second-ranked Contact Energy up 4c to 863, and Fletcher Building steady on 735.
PGG Wrightson was up 4c to 265 and Ryman up 2c to 174.
On the downside, Mainfreight lost 3c to 733, Sanford 4c to 511 and Steel & Tube 6c to 299.
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In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average of blue chips drifted in and out of positive territory and was up a modest 3.34 points (0.03 per cent) at 12,283.66 at the closing bell.
The Nasdaq composite fell 10.52 points (0.43 per cent) to 2448.94 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index dipped 4.01 points (0.29 per cent) to a preliminary close of 1357.75.
- NZPA