NZ sharemarket rises early

Fletcher Building shares continued their two-week rise in early trading today, adding 6c to move to a new nine-week high of 817.

Also rising early were shares in Michael Hill International, gaining 4c, or 6 per cent, to 70 after the company reported a 4.4 per cent lift in same store sales to $221.2 million for the half year to the end of December.

Overall, the market edged up early with the benchmark NZSX-50 index rising 4.59 points to a 15-month high 3289.4 around 10.15am, having risen 13.2 points yesterday.

Other shares rising early included Tourism Holdings, which gained 4c to 89, Nuplex up 3c to 304, Mainfreight up 2c to 570, and Telecom up 1c to 254.

The few shares falling early included Sky TV, down 4c to 524, Contact Energy down 2c to 630, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare down 2c to 333.

In the United States, the Dow and the S&P 500 ended at fresh 15-month highs as shares of financial companies and big manufacturers advanced following positive broker comments on Bank of America and General Electric.

Even so, caution ahead of the government's December US non-farm payrolls report on Friday (local time) limited a broader market advance and led the Nasdaq to finish just shy of breakeven.

Based on preliminary data, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.3 per cent to close unofficially at 10,606.86, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.40 per cent to 1141.69, and the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.05 per cent to 2300.05.

- NZPA