NZ stocks: Good start to the New Year

12.00pm

The New Zealand sharemarket kicked the new year off on a positive, albeit quiet, note.

By mid-morning the benchmark NZSE-40 capital index was up 9.59 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 1954.98, on turnover of 5.81 million, valued at $12.36 million.

Topping turnover was BIL International's 2.10 million stocks, followed by Telecom with 1.33 million.

On the market, Telecom rose 8c to 461, BIL gained 3c to 49, Fletcher Building was up 3c at 338, pay television company Sky TV rose 7c to 335, Tower gained 3c to 213, retail giant The Warehouse was up 2c at 734, and banker Westpac gained 4c to 1395.

On the down side, Contact Energy lost 4c to 393, Auckland International Airport was down 5c at 550, Fletcher Forests shed 1c at 98 on 1000 stocks, and Guinness Peat Group lost 1c to 152.

There were 24 rises and 14 falls on the 68 stocks traded.

The New Zealand market followed on from rallies in offshore markets, with European stocks gaining between 2.2 per cent and 6.9 per cent, and Britain's benchmark FTSE-100 index closing up 1.75 per cent.

On Wall St, the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 265.89 points, or 3.19 per cent, to 8607.52l; the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rallied 29.21 points, or 3.32 per cent, to 909.03; the technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index soared 49.34 points, or 3.69 per cent, to 1384.85.

- NZPA