KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket continued yesterday's positive tone in early trading today with investors encouraged by Wall Street pushing to new records.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average broke above the 14,000 mark for the first time during the New York trading session and the Nasdaq rose to a 6-1/2-year high on a cascade of stronger-than-expected earnings.
Locally, investors are shrugging off worries the Reserve Bank will hike interest rates for the fifth time next week of the kiwi dollar nudging a record US80c.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index, which rose 18.48 points yesterday, was up 0.30 of a point to 4259.22 today on very light turnover of less than $20 million. Rises outnumbered falls 20 to 11 among the 67 traded.
Market leader Telecom held yesterday's 7c gain to be on 474, while Fletcher Building rose 2c to 1242. Contact Energy fell 2c to 922 having had a strong run this week.
NZOG continued its good run thanks to rising oil prices and an expected bonanza from its Tui field. It was up 5c to 129.
Ebos group rose 6c to 518 and Mainfreight rose 3c to 755.
Charlies rose half a cent to 18c after reporting strong sales in the wake of its Phoenix purchase.
On the downside, Nuplex fell 4c to 790 and BIL International fell 3c to 131.
Lion Nathan dropped 48c, nearly 5 per cent, to 965 on a small parcel.
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In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 20.57 points to end at 13,971.55. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down just 0.15 of a point to 1549.37 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 14.96 points, or 0.55 per cent, to close at 2712.29.
- NZPA