Positive start for sharemarket

The New Zealand sharemarket rose in early trading, ahead of the release of September quarter retail sales data.

Around 10.20am, the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 6.3 points to 3167.84, following a fall of 5.9 points yesterday.

Fletcher Building shares lifted 4c to $7.99 early, having fallen 9c yesterday when it gave what was considered a cautious outlook statement at its annual meeting in Dunedin.

Technology firm Rakon lifted 2c to $1.19, after reporting a first half loss of $6.2 million but said revenue of $72.2m was up 20 per cent on the second half of last financial year.

Mainfreight shares were initially up 6c to $5.51, but a few minutes after opening slipped back to a gain of only 1c, taking the price to $5.46.

NZX shares lifted 5c to $8.15, Steel & Tube was up 2c to $3.12, Auckland Airport gained 2c to $1.89, and Telecom was up 1c to $2.55.

Stocks falling early included Sanford, down 5c to $5.00, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare down 4c to $3.12, and Freightways down 2c to $3.06.

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In the United States, blue chips rose for a sixth day, capping their longest winning streak since August, as an upbeat forecast from a top homebuilder and data from China pointed to a strengthening global economy.

Preliminary closing figures put the Dow Jones industrial average up 0.4 per cent to 10,291.26, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index up 0.5 per cent to 1098.50, and the Nasdaq Composite Index up 0.7 per cent to 2166.90.

- NZPA