KEY POINTS:
A four cent fall by market leader Telecom kept the sharemarket pegged back in early business today.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 1.19 to 4237.89 at 10.10am on light turnover totalling $36 million. Rises outnumbered rises 16 to 13 among the 63 stocks traded.
Telecom gained 4c yesterday but lost it today to be on 462. The Government said yesterday it would complete its statutory requirements for the structural separation of Telecom by year end, but gave investors hope when it said it would discuss Telecom's counter proposal to sell off its network assets.
Fletcher Building recovered 16c of yesterday's 26c dump to be on 1240. The construction and building supplies company fell on profit taking. It has been in retreat since hitting a record high of 1342 in May amid its takeover of Formica.
Jeweller Michael Hill dropped 14c to 991.
Tourism Holdings fell 4c to 251 as analysts speculated the 280-per-share bid by Australia's MFS Living and Leisure would fail. Although the company said it would lift its offer, there are indications it may still do so.
Nuplex was down 6c t0 697 while NZ Refining was up 8c to 790 and Westpac was up 19.5c to 2850.
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In the US, the Nasdaq Composite rose as technology shares benefited from stronger-than-expected economic data and Apple shot to a record on expectations of strong sales momentum for its iPhone.
But rising bond yields were a damper on the broader market, leaving the Dow industrials and S&P 500 barely changed on the day.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 11.46 points at 13,565.84 and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.53 of a point to 1525.40. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 11.70 points to 2656.65.
- NZPA