KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket opened with a marginal increase ahead of this morning's food price index and consumer price index announcements.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 8 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 3088.2 at 10.10am today after falling 1.3 per cent yesterday.
Top stock Telecom was up 1c to 330. Also rising were Fletcher Building 2c to 627, Freightways 4c to 300, Fisher & Paykel Health 2c to 232, Kiwi Trust 2c 113 and Sky TV 2c to 417.
Contact was one of the few local shares to be down early, losing 2c to 738. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 2c to 193.
US stocks fell overnight as worry about the health of the US banking sector after Friday's collapse of IndyMac outweighed earlier optimism over the government's plan to stabilise Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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On Sunday, the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve said they would lend money and buy equity if needed to rescue the two pillars of the US housing market, sending shares soaring early on Monday.
But the gains soon fizzled as analysts noted any direct government investment in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would further dilute existing shares - the last thing investors want.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 45.35 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 11,055.19, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 11.19 points, or 0.90 per cent, to 1228.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 26.21 points, or 1.17 per cent, to 2212.87.
- NZPA
