Shares continue rapid rise

The share price of stock exchange operator NZX continued its rapid rise early, following yesterday's announcement that it was quadrupling the number of its shares via a stock split and intends increasing dividends annually for the next five years.

Shortly after the New Zealand sharemarket opened, shares in NZX were up 44c or 5.3 per cent to $8.75, on top of yesterday's gain of 41c.

At the same time, the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 7.04 points to 3145.62, having closed down 7.9 points yesterday.

Among leading stocks, Telecom was up 4c to $2.40 after falling 5c yesterday, while Fletcher Building lost 3c to $7.65 and Contact Energy eased 2c to $5.83.

Trustpower gained 4c to $7.34, NZ Refining Co lifted 4c to $4.19, Steel & Tube was up 3c to $2.77, Property for Industry rose 3c to $1.21, and The Warehouse was up 3c to $4.18.

Port of Tauranga dropped 4c to $7.03 on low volume, Methven was down 2c to $1.66 and Nuplex eased 2c to $2.59.

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In the United States, stocks ended little changed as investors paused to gauge prospects for the US economic recovery and interest rates after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the economy faced "formidable headwinds".

Financials, technology and energy shares finished in the red, but their losses were offset by a run-up in some defensive sectors, including telecoms and utilities.

Preliminary figures put the Dow Jones industrial average up 0.01 per cent at 10,390.11, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index down 0.3 per cent at 1103.25, and the Nasdaq Composite Index down 0.2 per cent at 2189.61.

- NZPA