KEY POINTS:
Strong results from GPG and Nuplex led the sharemarket higher in early business today after the local market also got modest encouragement from Wall Street.
The NZSX-50 index, which gained half a per cent yesterday, was up 22 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 3584.6 by 10.15am.
Volume was light with 23 rises and seven falls among the 62 stocks traded.
Nuplex shares leapt 7 per cent, 41c to 620, after it reported its half year net profit from ordinary activities rose 60 per cent to $24m on higher volumes and better margins. It lifted its imputed dividend to 20cps from 15.5c.
Guinness Peat Group shares rose 18c to 160 after it reported net profit rose 258 per cent to £129m ($318.2m), with the increase largely due to sales of shares in two companies.
Shares in market leader Telecom languished unchanged at 389 near a 15-year low.
Mainfreight rose 7c to 650 and NZOG rose 2c to 127 after posting a strong half year yesterday.
Hard hit Pumpkin Patch rose 3c to 194 after a number of analysts yesterday assessed it as oversold.
Auckland Airport recovered another 2c to 253. It rose 6c yesterday after being hammered down 13 per cent on Tuesday following concern that new tax rules might stymie the Canadian Pension Plan partial takeover bid for AIA.
US stocks ended little changed after a rally fizzled when doubts emerged that the lifting of investment caps on the two largest home financing companies was enough to prevent deeper damage to the housing market.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 9.36 points to end unofficially at 12,694.28. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 1.28 points to finish unofficially at 1380.01 while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 8.79 points, or 0.37 per cent, to close unofficially at 2353.78.
- NZPA