KEY POINTS:
Telecom's initial 2 per cent rise on the announcement of Paul Reynolds as its new chief executive helped the sharemarket break a five-day losing streak in early trading.
However, in choppy trading the market leader eased back 6c to be only up 3c to 449 by 10.20am.
The market was up 6.64 points to 4209.90 after having had five consecutive falls.
Fund managers said the appointment of Dr Reynolds had been well signalled and so was not a surprise.
They said he would be strong in dealing with the regulatory environment that was dictating the company's performance.
Air NZ, which plunged 25c to 265 yesterday after Qantas unloaded its 4.2 per cent stake, was down another 2c to 263.
Fletcher Building was up 2c to 1245.
AMP rose 9c to 1120 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 3c to 329.
Leading the falls, Hellaby lost 10c to 345, Steel & Tube 7c to 460, Tenon 5c to 255, Ebos 5c to 505 and Contact Energy 3c to 902.
Struggling retailer Postie Plus was up 2c to 77c.
There were 16 rises and 19 falls among the 74 stocks traded. Turnover was a solid $68m.
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In the US, stocks rose as investors snapped up beaten-down shares after a three-day slide and a nearly 2 per cent jump in oil prices boosted demand for energy companies.
Major indexes had fallen earlier in the day after weaker-than-expected durable goods data.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 90 points to 13,427.73. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 13.45 points to 1506.34 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 31.19 points to 2605.35.
- NZPA