KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket opened mildly positive today, led up by top stock Telecom.
About five minutes after the market's 10am opening, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 6.65 points to 4234.66.
That put the index just slightly ahead of where it started the week, following a 6.28 point fall yesterday.
Telecom was up 5c early to 458, having lost 6c yesterday. On Friday the stock had risen 11c in the wake of last Thursday's appointment of BT's Paul Reynolds as CEO.
Today's early lift followed the overnight lead from Wall Street where stocks rallied, boosted by a fresh round of takeover activity and data showing a pickup in manufacturing in June.
Apart from Telecom, other shares to rise early in this country today included Tower, gaining 3c to 240, and Fletcher Building up 3c to 1238.
Freightways was up 5c to 405, after yesterday announcing it had bought information management businesses on both sides of the Tasman.
The freight and logistics company said it was paying up to A$8.7 million ($9.7m) for Brisbane's Shred-X Group, and $1m for MSS in Christchurch.
Early falls today were all minor and included Auckland International Airport down 1c to 327, having been steady yesterday after announcing a rise in landing charges, to criticism from the airline industry and Air New Zealand.
Contact Energy was down 1c to 909 following a 9c rise yesterday, while Calan Healthcare was down 2c to 135.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances and F&P Healthcare were both off a cent early, to 346 and 333 respectively.
Pumpkin Patch was down 2c to 324, Restaurant Brands down 1c to 85, Sky TV down 1c to 561, and Telstra down 2c to 503.
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In the US overnight, Caterpillar Inc and United Technologies Corp led the Dow industrials higher after a surprising rise in the Institute for Supply Management's factory index to its highest level in more than a year.
Takeover activity showed few signs of abating despite concerns about tightening credit. Canada's largest telephone company, BCE Inc, agreed to a US$32.6 billion ($42.2b) buyout.
The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 0.95 per cent to end at 13,535.43. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 1.07 per cent, to finish at 1519.43. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.12 per cent, to close at 2632.30.
- NZPA