The subdued mood in the local sharemarket was maintained in early trading today despite a surge on Wall Street that took the Dow Jones index to a record.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 11.73 points to 4292.92 at 10.20am, taking its gain to over 7 per centsince its credit crisis nadir of August 17.
Market leader Telecom underpinned the overall market with a 4c rise to 451. Contact Energy was up 3c to 923 and Fletcher Building was up 2c to 1280.
Sky City, yesterday's standout with a 16c jump, was up another cent to 539. The media is speculating a value of close to 600c for its shares if the mystery bid for Sky is revealed.
PGG Wrightson was up 3c to 199 despite the rise of the NZ dollar to above US76.6c.
Hallenstein Glasson was down 10c to 440 after it announced Glassons managing director Diane Humphries had resigned for family reasons.
Cavalier Corp was down 17c to 314 and another exporter, Fisher & Paykel Appliances, was down 3c to 350. However, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 5c to 330.
Air New Zealand was down 2c to 243 while Ryman Healthcare was up 3c to 208.
Among the smaller stocks, Pacific Edge Bio fell 3c, 20 per cent, to 12c and Taylors Group fell 13c to 175.
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US stocks began the fourth quarter with a rally as investors bet that Wall Street may have seen the worst of the credit squeeze.
The surge lifted the Dow to a record and the technology-stock laden Nasdaq index to its highest level in more than six and a half years as investors snapped up shares of technology bellwethers such as Apple and Intel Corp.
The Dow finished up 191.92 points, or 1.38 per cent, at 14,087.55. During the session, it surged to an all-time high of 14,115.51.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 20.28 points, or 1.33 per cent, to end at 1547.03 and the Nasdaq Composite Index closed up 39.49 points, or 1.46 per cent, at 2740.99.
