Wellington, June 18 NZPA - Small rises by leading shares helped the New Zealand sharemarket make modest early gains.

Telecom rose 2c early to 261 on top of a 2c gain yesterday, while Fletcher Building gained 4c to 640 after losses on the first three trading days of the week having started at 686 on Monday.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 5.6 points to 2787.64. Yesterday it closed down 8.1 points reflecting a pause in global equity markets on doubts about an economic recovery.

Other early risers today included Sky TV, up 3c to 428, Auckland Airport up 2c to 156, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 2c to 297.

Shares losing ground early included Steel & Tube, down 10c to 285, Hellaby Holdings down 4c to 110, and Freightways down 2c to 295.

Trustspower lost 6c to 785, Ebos Group lost 5c to 540, and Nuplex lost 4c to 160, all on low volume.

In the United States, technology shares buoyed the Nasdaq after positive broker comments on Qualcomm, but financial shares' losses held back the Dow and the S&P 500.

Banks were hurt by a broad debt ratings downgrade from Standard & Poor's and uncertainty over the government's extensive proposals for banking industry reform.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.1 percent to 8497.18, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was off 0.1 percent at 910.71, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.7 percent to 1808.06.