KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket opened lower today following a soft start to the week yesterday.
By 10.10am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 5.07 points to 3465 after weak Australian and Asian stocks kept the local sharemarket subdued yesterday.
US stocks edged lower on Monday after an unexpected quarterly loss from Wachovia Corp dragged down the financial sector, overshadowing strong gains in energy companies as oil closed at a record.
Back home, top-stock Telecom opened 1c lower at 361 after late gains last night.
Port of Tauranga was down 1c to 629, KiwiTrust 1c to 125, Infratil 1c to 208 and Contact 3c to 845.
Auckland Airport began recovering from last week's rejection of the Canadian bid, up 2c to 218. Air New Zealand was up 1c to 132, Fletcher Building 5c to 835 and Fisher & Paykel Appliances 1c to 216.
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In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 23.36 points, or 0.19 per cent, ending at 12,302.06.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 4.51 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 1328.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 14.42 points, or 0.63 per cent, to 2275.82.
- NZPA