Firm start for NZ shares

Photo / Kenny Rodger

The New Zealand sharemarket started the week with a firm early gain, as trading in Pike River Coal shares was suspended and a trading halt was placed on NZ Oil & Gas, at the request of the two companies.

There has been no communication with 29 miners at Pike River's mine on the West Coast since an explosion around 4.30pm on Friday. NZOG is a 29 per cent stakeholder in Pike River.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 11.25 points to 3279.41, after losing 12.3 points on Friday.

Among leading stocks, Telecom was up 2c to $2.15 early today, Contact Energy added 2c to $5.97, and Fletcher Building was unchanged on $7.93.

Freightways was up 7c to $3.02, Mainfreight gained 3c to $7.34, Sky City lifted 3c to $3.14, Rakon added 2c to $1.23, NZX was up 2c to $1.55, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 2c to $3.01.

Trustpower lost 5c to $7.44, Wakefield Health lost 20c to $6.19, and Xero fell 3c to $2.10 after reaching an intraday high of $2.15 on Friday.

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Before the stockmarket opened today, debt-struck Ireland formally appealed for a massive EU-IMF loan to stem the flight of capital from its banks.

European Union finance ministers quickly agreed to the bailout, saying it "is warranted to safeguard financial stability in the EU and euro area." Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said his country reached an agreement in principle with EU and IMF donors to provide less than 100 billion euro to support cash-strapped Dublin banks.

In the United States, stocks ended flat for the week as investors backed away from a strong autumn advance.

The major stock indexes finished little changed for the day after China's central bank raised bank reserve requirements for the second time in two weeks, stepping up its fight to rein in prices in a move that could temper growth.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 0.2 per cent to 11,203.55, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index edged up 0.3 per cent at 1199.73, and the Nasdaq Composite Index put on 0.2 per cent to 2518.12.

- NZPA