KEY POINTS:
A fall in market heavyweight Telecom pulled the top 50 index down in early trading today.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index was down 6 points to 3622 at 10.25am, having fallen 0.6 per cent yesterday.
Telecom was down 4c to 385 to add to yesterday's gain. Senior Telecom executive Simon Moutter yesterday said he was leaving to become chief executive of Auckland Airport.
Mr Moutter's departure means almost all its top executives have quit since the Government decided it would force the company to open its network to rivals.
Contact Energy was unchanged on 891 after losing 9c yesterday and No 3 stock Fletcher Building steady on 822 after losing 13c yesterday.
The lower kiwi dollar appeared to be helping some export stocks, with Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 6c to 267 and Rakon up 5c to 340, having gained 6c yesterday.
PGG Wrightson was up 2c to 207 after announcing it was it had agreed to combine the majority of its wool business with a new growers' co-operative, Wool Grower Holdings Ltd, formed by the Wool Industry Network Ltd.
PGG Wrightson's holding was valued at $46 million and it will hold up to 40 per cent of the co-op.
Listed property investor Kiwi Income Property Trust rose a cent to 126 to add to yesterday's 1c gain after announcing a 4.9 per cent rise in distributable profit of $62.1m.
Dominion Finance, which slumped 9 per cent yesterday after reporting a worse-than-expected 36 per cent drop in annual profit was unchanged.
It reported its debenture reinvestment rate had slumped to under 20 per cent last month.
Shares in Wellington Drive Technology were untraded after it reported it has won a $1.75m grant to develop its high tech motors.
Xero rose 6c to 89c after the web-based accounting software company reported its result yesterday and was upbeat about prospects.
In contrast, clothes retailer Postie Plus fell 4c, or 9 per cent, to 41c on expectations of another poor quarter of sales.
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On Wall Street, US stocks notched moderate gains after a consumer price report eased fears of runaway inflation and mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac reported a narrower-than-expected loss.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 58.95 points (0.46 per cent) to 12,891.13 and the Nasdaq composite edged up 1.36 points (0.16 per cent) to 2496.70 at the closing bell, with indexes off their best levels of the day.
The Standard & Poor's 500 broad-market index added 4.87 points (0.35 per cent) to a preliminary close of 1407.91.
- NZPA