NZ sharemarket opens higher

File photo / Paul Estcourt

The New Zealand sharemarket pushed higher in early trading with Telecom, Fletcher Building, and Ryman Healthcare showing gains.

The benchmark NZX-50 index opened up 4.924 points, 0.15 per cent, to 3294.230 with the majority of shares going up.

Care and retirement village operator Ryman was up 2c to $2.18 after today reporting a $36m realised profit for the first half year - a new record for the company.

Ryman said the 25 per cent increase in profit was due to apartment demand and expansion. The net profit was $52.2m when unrealised gains were added, up 29 per cent.

Telecom was up 1c to $2.12, though it was short-lived falling back to $2.11 by 10.15am. The telco fell 9c to $2.11 yesterday when it cancelled its dividend reinvestment plan for the first quarter dividend because of a delay in the announcement of the Government's broadband plans.

Fletcher Building was up 3c to $8.04. The country's largest building company yesterday said its annual net earnings would be well within a range of analysts' forecasts between $311 million and $405m and they would be broadly in line with the average consensus estimate.

Transport group Mainfreight fell 5c to $7.35 to despite today reporting an unaudited net profit of $16.5 million, up 51.7 per cent, for the first half year.

The company said it was satisfied with the results, though it was below expectations in some markets. Its outlook was optimistic, stating sales activity and weekly trading results in the past two months has picked up.

Contact Energy rose 1c to $5.92, Air NZ rose 1c to $1.33, Rakon Limited rose 1c to $1.20 and Tower rose 1c to $1.88.

SkyTV was up 4c to $5.35 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 3c to $3.04.

Auckland Airport fell 1c to $2.11 and Freightway fell 3c to $2.95.

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In the United States, the Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq indexes were modestly higher, led by gains among retailers after a bullish outlook from Target, but Europe's debt crisis kept investors cautious.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.03 points, or 0.00 per cent, at 11,023.47. The S&P 500 Index was up 2.48 points, or 0.21 per cent, at 1180.82. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 13.91 points, or 0.56 per cent, at 2483.75.

- NZPA