KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket reacted to today's Reserve Bank rates rate with a 1.2 per cent rise, building on yesterday's 1.8 per cent jump.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index, up 58 points yesterday, rose another 41 points to 3242.4 in the first quarter of an hour's trading today.
Fletcher Building leapt 26c to 681, while Contact Energy rose 11c to 825 and market leader Telecom was up 2c to 352.
In the US, Wall Street stocks rose modestly amid another sharp decline in crude oil prices and an extension of the improbable rally in beaten-down banking shares.
Analysts said the market also got a lift from prospects for passage of a major housing relief bill after the White House dropped its threat of a veto.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 31.91 points (0.28 per cent) to 11,634.41 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 21.92 points (0.95 per cent) to 2325.88 at the closing bell.
The US broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index added 5.13 points (0.40 per cent) to a preliminary finish of 1282.13.
- NZPA
