NZ sharemarket lifts early

At around 10.15am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 2.12 points

The New Zealand sharemarket edged up in early trading today, even as Mainfreight shares tumbled nearly 2 percent.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 2.12 points to 3109.73, after yesterday starting strongly but then fading to close 5.4 points lower.

Mainfreight lost 10c early to 550, while Steel & Tube dropped 4c to 290.

Leading stocks managed early gains with Fletcher Building up 4c to 769, Telecom gaining 1c to 247 and Contact Energy also lifting 1c, to 591.

NZ Refining Co lifted 5c to 460, and retailer Hallenstein Glasson was up 5c to 325, but on low volume. Lyttelton Port was up 8c to 258 and Windflow Technology up 5c to 150.

The National Property Trust was unchanged on 47c after lifting its half year distributable profit 1.5 percent to $4.85 million.

In the United States, stocks slipped on lacklustre economic data in a session marked by low volume and choppy trading ahead of the Thanksgiving Day holiday, but losses eased after the Federal Reserve increased its expectations for growth in 2010.

The Dow Jones industrial average provisionally ended down 0.2 percent at 10,433.71, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dipped 0.1 percent to 1105.65, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.3 percent to close at 2169.18.