Shares in Telecom, the country's largest listed company, slipped in early trading on the New Zealand stock exchange after the company reported its full year results today.
Telecom reported a 43.9 per cent fall in net profit for the year to the end of June to $398 million.
In early trading its shares are down 5c to $2.62, having declined 3c yesterday.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was flat, easing up just 0.57 points to 3053.68, after falling 27.9 points yesterday.
Shares in another leading stock, Fletcher Building, gained early, lifting 7c to $7.81.
Steel & Tube had a 5c gain to $3.15, Port of Tauranga was up 5c to $6.55, Nuplex added 5c to $2.20, and NZ Refining lifted 4c to $5.10.
Rakon lifted 3c to $1.41, Methven was up 2c to $1.50 and Fisher & Paykel Appliances gained 2c to 81.
Along with Telecom, other stocks falling early included Hallenstein Glasson, down 5c to $2.80, and dual-listed Westpac down 29c to $28.51 and Telstra down 8c to $4.45.
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In the United States, stocks rose for a third straight session with financial stocks leading gains after US manufacturing data and a rebound in Chinese stocks reassured investors.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.8 per cent to end at 9350.05, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1.1 per cent to 1007.37, and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1 per cent to close at 1989.22.
