NZ sharemarket gains early

The New Zealand sharemarket made early gains as Telecom gained 1 per cent to lift its share price off yesterday's record closing low.

By 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 7.33 points to 3031.43, after underperforming against other markets yesterday when it closed up 5.2 points.

After yesterday dropping as low as $1.82, Telecom's share price was early today up 2c to $1.85 from the closing price of $1.83.

The Warehouse was up 3c to $3.56, Contact Energy gained 3c to $5.80, Trustpower lifted 2c to $7.20, Sky City was up 2c to $2.87, NZ Oil & Gas gained 2c to $1.38, and Auckland Airport lifted 2c to $1.88.

Shares falling early included Sky TV, down 3c to $4.57, Fletcher Building down 2c to $8.18, and NZX down 2c to $1.56.

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In the United States, stocks were led higher by a late-day surge in technology shares as investors geared up for a strong unemployment report tonight.

Stocks seesawed throughout the session, shifting between optimism and pessimism on a variety of factors, including technical resistance at the S&P 200-day moving average, the euro's weakness, and supportive labour market data.

The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 0.1 per cent to end at 10,255.28, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.4 per cent to 1102.83, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1 per cent to 2303.03.

- NZPA