KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket failed to sustain yesterday's rally in early business today despite further encouragement from Wall Street.
Shares got a big boost yesterday from the larger than expected US Federal Reserve rate cut, but that also triggered a US3c rise in the kiwi dollar, putting a dampener on local shares.
The NZSX-50 index was down 10.4 points to 4167.3 at 10.15am. Turnover was heavy at $45m, boosted by the sale of 3.6 per cent stake in NZX.
While market leader Telecom was up 1c to 433, Fletcher Building was down 6c to 1205 and No.3 stock Contact Energy 4c down to 908.
Auckland Airport, which yesterday rose 8.5 per cent on news the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board confirmed its intent to seek a significant minority stake at 370 cash or 390 for shares and cash, eased 2c to 328.
Infratil, a shareholder in Auckland Airport, was up 3c to 293.
Sky TV, which yesterday lost a court case with TV3 over screening of World Cup Rugby, was down 6c to 544.
The sale of GPG's 3.62 per cent stake in stock exchange NZX went through the market at 950, 40c below the last traded price.
In the US, stocks rose as investors extended a rally a day after the Federal Reserve's bold rate cut, betting that lower borrowing costs would keep the economy from slowing further and boost profits.
Shares of mortgage finance companies, drug makers and manufacturers led the broad-based advance after the Fed cut the benchmark interest rate by a half-percentage point, the largest reduction in nearly five years.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 76.17 points, or 0.55 per cent, to end at 13,815.56. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 9.25 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 1529.03 and the Nasdaq rose 14.82 points, or 0.56 per cent, to close at 2666.48.
- NZPA