KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket, bobbing just above where it started 2007, was flat in early trading after another volatile session on Wall Street where credit concerns remain to the fore.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index, which lost 1.2 per cent yesterday to end just a dozen points above its year start level, was up 0.4 of a point on 4067.8 at 10.20am. The index was still 175 points above its year low struck in August.
Turnover was heavy at $82m, dominated by Telecom. There were 14 rises and 16 falls among the 59 stocks traded.
Mainfreight starred, rising 8c to 720 after it reported a 9 per cent increase in first half net profit, before non-recurring items, of $15.72 million.
Chip maker Rakon recovered 9c to 435 after it dropped 89c in the last two days to a nine-month low of 426 on disappointing half year results and advice it could have difficulty reaching previously forecast full year figures.
Vector was unchanged after it said it was on track to achieve the upper end of analysts' full year forecasts for its ebitda.
Auckland International Airport rose 2c to 288, having dropped 4 per cent, or 12c, to 286 yesterday after the company downgraded its annual profit forecast. Nominees representing Auckland and Manukau Cities and Infratil were all elected to an enlarged board at yesterday's annual meeting.
Top stock Telecom was down 1c to 425. It announced some key executive appointments to head its divisions following its enforced split.
Michael Hill was up 5c to 115 and New Image was up 5c to 135 while Taylors was down 7c to 171.
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US stocks clawed back from three-month lows as surging oil prices lifted Exxon Mobil Corp and offset falls in financial shares on new concerns about the housing market.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 51.70 points, or 0.40 per cent, to end unofficially at 13,010.14. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 6.43 points, or 0.45 per cent, to finish unofficially at 1439.70 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 3.43 points, to close unofficially at 2596.81.
- NZPA