The New Zealand sharemarket managed a positive start to the week even though Telecom's confirmation that it is prepared to fully separate its business added further uncertainty to an already nervous market.
The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 11.141 points, or 0.365 percent, at 3061.224 after opening up around 26 points. Turnover was worth $98.3 million. There were 53 rises and 27 falls among the 103 stocks traded.
Telecom fell to a record low of $1.92 after saying it is fully investigating structural separation in order to participate in the Government's ultrafast broadband initiative. It ended down 3c at $1.96 but was technically up as from today shareholders are no longer eligible for a 6c a share dividend.
"It is ex-dividend today so it is actually firm today if we take the dividend adjustment into account," said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton, Hindin Greene.
He said separation could be positive in the long term if it got the company on the right side of regulators.
GoldmanSachs JBWere's Peter Sigley said the proposition of complete separation was not a complete surprise for investors.
People were trying to think through myriad options for the company at the moment, with this being just one of them. Telecom was an incredibly confusing proposition for investors, he said.
As the market was closing Standard & Poor's changed the outlook on the company's credit rating to negative.
Otherwise risk appetite has rebounded slightly but markets remain vulnerable to developments in the sovereign debt story in Europe.
Among the leading shares, Fletcher Building was down 5c at $7.82 and Contact Energy jumped 2c to $5.97.
SkyCity fell 1c to $2.91 and Guinness Peat Group fell 1c to 77c.
Hellaby rose 5c to $1.55, NZOG rose 5c to $1.41 and AMP rose 25c to $6.95. Rakon, which reported earnings last week, rose 2c to 99c.
NZ Refining rose 5c to $3.38 and Steel & Tube rose 7c to $2.57.
The Warehouse rose 4c to $3.64 and Hallenstein Glassons rose 5c to $3.36. TrustPower rose 4c to $7.20 and SkyTV rose 3c to $4.67. Auckland Airport rose 1c to $1.89 and Mainfreight rose 3c to $6.04. Air NZ was unchanged at $1.20.
In the United States, stocks snapped a three-day losing streak on Friday as investors bought beaten-down shares on bets the financial regulation bill won't be as onerous as some had feared.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 125.38 points, or 1.25 percent, to 10,193.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 16.10 points, or 1.50 percent, to 1087.69. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 25.03 points, or 1.14 percent, to 2229.04.
