The New Zealand sharemarket made firm gains in early trading, with key stock Fletcher Building adding 1 per cent in the first few minutes after the market opened.
The sound start to trading in this country followed rising equities in the United States.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 15.6 points to 3188.56, having closed up 15.8 points yesterday.
After ending unchanged yesterday, Fletcher Building added 8c early today to $8.08.
Other moves by leading shares included Contact Energy up 5c to $6.15, having lifted 16c yesterday, while Telecom gained 2c to $2.58 after being unmoved yesterday.
Among other shares rising early, Steel & Tube was up 4c to $2.94, Sky TV gained 4c to $4.99, Trustpower lifted 3c to $7.55, Sky City was up 2c to $3.47, and Methven lifted 2c to $1.50.
Dual-listed bank Westpac was up 39c to $32.10, while ANZ added 5c to $28.05.
Nuplex fell 4c to $2.51 and Property for Industry slipped 2c to $1.21.
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In the United States, preliminary figures put the Dow Jones industrial average up 1.3 per cent to end at 10,407.11, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1.5 per cent at 1109.29, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.4 per cent at 2197.85.
Fed chairman Bernanke's comments that the Fed was likely to keep interest rates exceptionally low for "an extended period," drove investors to snap up shares of natural resource companies as prices of global commodities - from gold to wheat - shot higher.
"The overriding message from Bernanke is that interest rates will stay low and remain low for the near to medium term. It seems that the market likes that," said Dennis Cajigas, senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock, a retail brokerage firm, in Chicago.
"Investors essentially are borrowing against low rates in the (US) dollar and putting that money in areas that they feel will react well against inflation, such as crude oil, energy, gold, commodities, stocks because the expected return should be higher over time."
- NZPA
Firm start for sharemarket
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