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The New Zealand sharemarket was on the rise in early trade today, with a 10c gain by Fletcher Building helping lead the way higher.
The firm showing in this country today come after US stocks surged on Friday as internet leader Google and heavy equipment maker Caterpillar showed resilience in the face of a slowing economy with profits that defied Wall Street's modest expectations.
Citigroup also fuelled a rally that pushed the Dow to its best week since February as investors took comfort that the No 1 US bank is taking aggressive steps to resolve credit problems that led to its latest quarterly loss, boosting hopes that the credit crisis is near an end.
Around 10.10am today the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 17.94 points to 3575.41, after falling 11.5 points on Friday.
Fletcher Building's early lift took it to 845, having slipped a cent on Friday. Top stock Telecom was flat early on 370, having gained 4c on Friday.
Skellerup Holdings added 1c early to 89, after announcing it was selling its roofing, conveyor and containment businesses together with the business of Batavian Rubber Co for $12.1 million.
Auckland Airport rose 3c early to 220, Air New Zealand was also up 3c, to 136, while Fisher & Paykel Appliances gained 2c to 252 with F&P Healthcare also adding 2c, to 277.
Nuplex rose 5c to 640, Port of Tauranga was up 5c to 650, Pumpkin Patch up 5c to 188, and Rakon up 5c to 325, while Sky City added 3c to 387 and Trustpower gained 5c to 785.
Hallenstein Glasson dropped 14c early on low volume to 356 and Tenon was down 3c to 89.
On Friday (local time) the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 228.87 points to end at 12,849.36, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1.81 per cent to 1390.33. The Nasdaq Composite Index soared 2.61 per cent to 2402.97.
For the week, the Dow and the S&P 500 each ended up 4.3 per cent, while Nasdaq added 4.9 per cent.
- NZPA