Sharemarket buoyed by business optimism

The New Zealand sharemarket opened strongly today, buoyed by gains on Wall Street and increased business optimism at home.

The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research's Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion released this morning revealed soaring business optimism in the March 2010 quarter, despite a shallower than expected recovery.

A net 36 per cent of firms expect conditions to improve during the next six months, compared to 23 per cent in the December quarter (on a seasonally adjusted basis).

The benchmark NZX-50 index rose 19.57 points, or 0.60 per cent, to 3295.80 in the first 10 minutes of trading.

Telecom jumped 6c to $2.22c and Fletcher Building also gained 6c to $8.40c. Other leading stocks to rise included Air New Zealand, up 3c to $1.34c, The Warehouse 2c to $3.80c and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare 3c to $3.29c.

Among stocks to lose ground in early trading were Cavalier, down 3c to $2.67c, Michael Hill 2c to 68c and Auckland Airport 1c to $1.96c.

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Reuters reported from New York that US stocks rose on the first day of trading after government data showed the economy added the largest number of jobs in three years.

Shares of natural resources companies led the gains on expectations that an improving economy would drive up demand.

The Dow Jones industrial average and the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 Index both finished at fresh 18 month closing highs. The Nasdaq ended at a 19 month closing high.

The Dow gained 46.48 points, or 0.43 per cent, to end at 10,973.55. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 9.34 points, or 0.79 per cent, to finish at 1187.44. The Nasdaq Composite Index shot up 26.95 points, or 1.12 per cent, to 2429.53.