KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket rose strongly in early trading, following the Reserve Bank's move to cut official interest rates by a larger than expected half a percentage point.
It also came after mild gains by US equities as Opec's move to shore up oil prices boosted energy shares and Texas Instruments' outlook soothed fear about technology spending.
Top stock Telecom was up 5c to 308, having yesterday dropped as low as 300, its lowest level in more than 15-1/2 years.
Fletcher Building was up 20c early to 770, almost reversing yesterday's 25c decline, while Contact Energy was up 8c to 890, having declined 18c yesterday.
Around 10.10am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 41.84 points, or 1.25 per cent, to 3385.71, having closed down 32.5 points yesterday.
Among other stocks to rise early, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 9c to 322, Nuplex was up 5c to 630, and Rakon was up 5c to 285.
Also up 5c was Ryman Healthcare, to 180, Sanford to 605, and The Warehouse to 325.
Stocks rising 4c included Sky City to 380, Pike River Coal to 180, Kiwi Income Property Trust to 118, and ING Medical Properties Trust to 112.
NZ Farming Systems Uruguay stood out with an early fall, down 4c to 148.
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In the US, technology shares rose on relief that chip maker Texas Instruments did not cut its earnings outlook after a spate of recent warnings on consumers' cell phone spending.
Financial shares, however, were broadly lower after Lehman Brothers posted an unexpectedly large quarterly loss on huge mortgage-related write-downs and failed to announce any firm deals to raise desperately needed capital. Shares of Lehman, the No 4 US investment bank, sank 6.9 per cent, extending yesterday's 45 per cent slide.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.34 per cent at 11,268.92. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.61 per cent at 1232.04. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.85 per cent at 2228.70.
- NZPA
