Strong start for NZ shares

The New Zealand sharemarket started the day strongly, following a surge in equities in the United States.

Telecom was up 3c early to $1.90, on top of a 6c gain yesterday, having fallen to a record low of $1.79 this week.

Among other leading stocks, Fletcher Building gained 10c early to $8.10, and Contact Energy lifted 8c to $5.81.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 32.84 points to 3035.17, after closing up 2.2 points yesterday.

Other early risers included Hallenstein Glasson up 8c to $3.42, Port of Tauranga up 7c to $6.62, Nuplex up 6c to $2.93, The Warehouse up 5c to $3.50, Sanford up 5c to $4.18, and Sky City up 4c to $2.94.

Sky TV gained 3c early to $4.58, and Ryman Healthcare lifted 3c to $2.14, while Pike River Coal was up 2c to 95, NZX gained 2c to $1.60, NZ Oil & Gas lifted 2c to $1.43, and Auckland Airport was up 2c to $1.87.

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In the US, stocks posted their best day in the last nine, in response to signs of health in the euro debt market and as investors snapped up energy shares crushed in the previous day's sell-off.

Spain sold 3.9 billion euros ($6.9b) of a three-year benchmark bond seeing strong demand, a positive sign for investors worried about appetite for debt from struggling European nations.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 2.8 per cent to 10,172.53, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 3 per cent to 1086.84, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 2.8 per cent to 2218.71.

- NZPA