KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket was up in early trading to put it on track for its fifth successive session rise.
The local market received a positive steer from Wall Street which is increasingly putting credit crunch concerns behind it.
The NZSX-50 index was up 18.0 points to 4168.6 at 10.10am and has now risen 7 per cent since August 17.
Market leader Telecom continued its strong rise, up 4c to 447 and it has now risen from 409 on August 17.
Fletcher Building, which eased 2c yesterday against the market trend, was today up 14c to 1200.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which this week announced new products to the market, added 7c to yesterday's 9c to be on 359.
Port of Tauranga was up 5c to 695 and Tower was up 3c to 235.
Among the bank stocks, ANZ was up 30 to 3450 while Westpac was up 6c to 3236.
Despite the fallout in the finance sector, Dorchester Pacific was up 5c to 105.
Eftpos company Provenco was down 3c to 55c while Tenon was down 4c to 210.
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In the US, stocks jumped on an optimistic outlook for technology shares and gains in oil prices that lifted energy shares.
The Nasdaq composite index rallied for a fourth day and the S&P 500 broke above its 50-day moving average for the first time since July 24. Each index gained more than 1 per cent.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 91.12 points, or 0.68 per cent, to end at 13,448.86. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 15.43 points, or 1.05 per cent, to 1,489.42 and the Nasdaq Composite Index lifted 33.88 points, or 1.30 per cent, to 2,630.24.
- NZPA