Early rise for sharemarket

November 23 - Open

The New Zealand sharemarket rose in early trading, even as leading stock Telecom slipped nearly three percent.

Around 10.15am, the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 4.31 points to 3117.94, having lost 27.5 points on Friday.

Telecom shares were down 7c early to 249, while another leading share, Fletcher Building eased down 1c to 766.

Port of Tauranga gained 9c to 709 early but on low volume, retailer The Warehouse gained 8c to 416 also on low volume, with Cavalier Corp up 5c to 235, NZ Refining Co up 4c to 506, Mainfreight up 3c to 558, and Tower up 3c to 178.

Ryman Healthcare shares were unchanged on 196 after the company reported realised profit for the six months to the end of September up 12.2 percent to a record $29 million.

Shares in clothing and nursery product retailer Postie Plus Group, which said first quarter sales were up 15 percent from a year earlier, were also unchanged early, at 39c.

In the United States, stocks fell for a third straight day on Friday (local time) as investors took weaker-than-expected results from computer maker Dell and homebuilder DR Horton as a further sign that the recovery would be anemic.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.1 percent to 10,318.16, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 0.3 percent to 1091.38, and the Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.5 percent to 2146.04.

For the week, the Dow rose 0.5 percent, the S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent and the Nasdaq shed 1 percent.