Wellington, May 20 NZPA - The New Zealand sharemarket started the day flat, following on from yesterday's disappointing performance and after stocks in the United States ended narrowly mixed in light trading.

Among leading stocks in this country, Telecom was unchanged early at 259, Fletcher Building added 1c to 660 and Contact Energy slipped 1c to 591.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 0.45 points to 2791.26. Yesterday it gained around 13 points or just 0.5 percent, despite gains of more than 2 percent across the Tasman and around 3 percent in the preceding session on Wall Street.

The latest session in the US was far more cautious and New Zealand investors appeared happy to follow that lead.

The few early changes of substance included NZ Oil & Gas up 4c to 150, Freightways down 5c to 300, Steel & Tube down 4c to 301, and Ryman Healthcare down 3c to 160.

Auckland Airport gained 2c early to 168, with NZ Farming Systems Uruguay also up 2c, to 57.

In the US, a record low in housing construction has led investors to doubt the economy again. Financial shares also fell as the US Senate passed a bill to curb sudden credit card interest rate increases and hidden fees.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.3 percent to 8474.85, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 0.2 percent to 908.13, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.1 percent to 1734.54.