Sharemarket firmer in quiet trading

The sharemarket was up slightly in quiet early trading today ahead of the Christmas holiday break.

The benchmark NZX-50 index was up 3.3 points or 0.1 per cent to 3182.49 in the first 10 minutes, following yesterday's gain and an overnight lift in US stock prices.

Two of the three market heavyweights were unchanged, with Telecom at $2.45 and Fletcher Building at $7.81, but Contact Energy rose 2c to $6.09.

Following a surge in pre-Christmas spending, The Warehouse added 4c to yesterday's gains - rising to $4.24.

Other stocks in positive territory this morning included Auckland Airport, up 2c to $1.98, NZ Refining 2c to $3.70, Port of Tauranga 5c to $7.05 and Air NZ 1c to $1.20.

PGG Wrightson shed 2c to 60c and down 1c each were Fisher and Paykel Appliances to 64c, Pike River Coal to 97c and Infratil to $1.65.

* * *
Reuters reported from New York that stocks rose as a surge in existing home sales indicated more stabilisation in housing and boosted optimism about the economic recovery.

The CBOE volatility index, Wall Street's favourite measure of investor fear, fell 4.6 per cent to close below 20 for the first time since August 2008.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 50.79 points, or 0.49 per cent, to end unofficially at 10,464.93. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 3.97 points, or 0.36 per cent, to finish unofficially at 1118.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 15.01 points, or 0.67 per cent, to close unofficially at 2252.67.

- NZPA