NZ market rises early

Photo / Kenny Rodger

The New Zealand sharemarket rose in early trading after a strong showing by equities in the United States.

Fletcher Building shares pushed up 6c to a five-month high of $8.56, while Cavalier Corp pushed up 9c to $3.19 - its highest level in nearly three years.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 13.79 points to 3230.73, after yesterday gaining 4.7 points.

Restaurant Brands was up 2c to $2.53 after reporting a 3.7 per cent rise in second quarter sales from a year earlier, to $100.4 million, with same store sales up 3.9 per cent.

Port of Tauranga lifted 6c to $6.86, Sky TV gained 3c to $5.23, Mainfreight was up 3c to $7.13, Rakon lifted 3c to $1.27, and Contact Energy gained 3c to $5.79.


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In the United States, the Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at a four-month high as a long-awaited break above a technical range and a flurry of positive corporate news increased investor optimism.

The break came a day before a Federal Reserve meeting in which the central bank is expected to renew a promise to keep its portfolio from shrinking but is not seen taking new steps to ease monetary policy.

IBM was among the top boosts to the Dow Jones industrial average after it agreed to buy Netezza Corp for US$1.7 billion in the latest in a string of large tech deals.

The Dow was up 1.4 per cent at 10,753.62, the S&P 500 was up 1.5 per cent at 1142.71, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.7 per cent at 2355.83.

- NZPA