KEY POINTS:
Market heavyweight Telecom pulled the sharemarket down today after announced its third quarter result and a $1.1 billion share cancellation in the wake of its Yellow Pages unit sale.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 2.62 points to 4184.37 at 10.10am. Telecom fell 4c to 483 after it reported a $690 million nine-month net profit. It said adjusted earnings were up 13 per cent to $699m.
The company declared a 7 cents per share quarterly dividend, down from 9.5c a year earlier.
Contact Energy recovered 6c to 890 after losing 27c in two days as shareholders digested news that wholesale power prices were less than half what they were last year.
NZ Refining continued its good run this week, rising 9c to 711.
AMP was up 5c to 1210, Westpac was up 30c to 3080 and Cavalier up 4c to 312, but there was little other action.
Finz Soft was up 21c to 128 on one small parcel.
Finance company Dominion Finance Holdings was up 5c to 217 after yesterday reporting net profit after tax nearly doubled to $17.63m.
On Wall Street, US stocks rallied driving the Dow industrials to another record close, powered by robust profits and a flurry of buyout offers.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 75.90 points, or 0.58 per cent, at 13,212.04. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 9.65 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 1495.95 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 26.31 points, or 1.04 per cent, at 2557.84.
- NZPA