NZ sharemarket makes further gains

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The New Zealand sharemarket made further gains early at the start of the new week, having risen for the previous eight consecutive trading days.

About 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 8.44 points to 3397.04, having risen from a three-month low point below 3305 on March 17.

On Friday the market had only just managed to maintain its momentum, ending up just 1.4 points.

Contact Energy was up 5c early today to 581, Pumpkin Patch added 2c to 131, NZX lifted 2c to 207, Fletcher Building was up 2c to 905, and Telecom edged up 1c to 197.5.

Ebos Group fell 4c early to 750.

In the United States, stocks advanced for a third straight day on Friday (local time), with the three major stock indexes posting weekly gains after two straight weeks of declines brought on by the Japan earthquake, turmoil in the Arab world and a resurfacing of European debt problems.

"Overall, I keep looking at the pluses and minuses and this week has been spectacular with respect to everybody ignoring the minuses," said Kim Caughey Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.4 per cent to 12,220.59, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.3 per cent to 1313.80, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.2 per cent, to 2743.06.

For the week, the Dow gained 3.1 per cent, the S&P climbed 2.7 per cent and the Nasdaq advanced 3.8 per cent.

- NZPA