Small early gain for NZ sharemarket

The New Zealand sharemarket was modestly ahead at the start of trading for the week, after six consecutive days of gains had seen it pull away from an 11-month low early in the month.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was ahead 1.95 points at 3007.2, on top of a 21.3-point gain on Friday.

The few stocks rising early included retailer The Warehouse up 2c to $3.45, NZ Farming Systems Uruguay up 2c to 42, and Freightways up 2c to $2.69.

Fletcher Building lost 4c early to $7.71, while among other leading stocks Telecom was up 1c to $1.93 and Contact Energy was untraded having closed at $5.83 on Friday.

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In the United States, Wall Street closed out its best week in a year, snapping back from a long stretch of selling, as investors looked ahead to what many expect will be a solid earnings season.

Stocks ended near the day's highs, but trading was thin with the lowest-volume day of the year.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.6 per cent at 10,198.03, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.7 per cent at 1077.95, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1 per cent at 2196.45.

For the week, the S&P 500 was up 5.4 per cent, the Dow rose 5.3 per cent and the Nasdaq advanced 5 per cent.

- NZPA