NZ sharemarket starts with firm gains

The New Zealand sharemarket started the day with firm gains, in the wake of sharp rises by major stock markets after strong corporate earnings in both the United States and Europe.

Around 10.20am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 16.9 points to 3489.7, its highest level since June 2008, having yesterday gained 32.8 points.

Fletcher Building was up 12c to 920, Port of Tauranga added 9c to 849, Mainfreight lifted 7c to 932, Sky TV was up 6c to 585, Sky City lifted 5c to 347, Kathmandu was up 4c to 245, The Warehouse added 3c to 358, and Vector gained 3c to 242.

The small number of stocks falling early included two market leaders, with Contact Energy down 2c to 579 and Telecom down 0.5c to 215. Ebos Group fell 3c to 740.

World equities, as measured by the MSCI All-Country World Index advanced 2.1 percent, extending the previous session's 0.5 per cent rise and further recovering from Monday's 1.6 per cent loss.

In the United States, earnings surprises gave a positive turn to investor sentiment, propelling US stocks to their best day in a month.

Investors had been set up for a series of disappointments but got an unexpected treat from blue chips Intel Corp and United Technologies, sparking a broad-based rally that puts equities on the path for more gains in coming weeks.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.5 per cent to 12,453.54, the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 1.4 per cent to 1330.36, and the Nasdaq Composite added 2.1 per cent to 2802.51.

The Nasdaq posted its largest daily per centage gain since October while the Dow hit its highest close since early June 2008.

The broad S&P 500 had its best performance in a month.

- NZPA