Upbeat start for market

The NZX-50 index nudged its way up today, in a positive start for the local sharemarket, with Fletcher Building showing the way,

Fletcher Building shares gained another 9c today to 795c, apparently raising investors' hopes that the recession's effects might have bottomed out.

Such sentiment may have been underpinned by Prime Minister John Key's hint that the economy may have resumed growing after nearly two years in recession.

"We may be out of the worst of the recession and starting to move into a growth phase," he said.

Mr Key - a former currency trader - said he believed the economy would expand in the three months to the end of September, and that growth would accelerate after that, but the rebound was fragile.

Quarterly and monthly construction sector data this week is expected to be relatively flat, though there are hopes for signs that trends are improving in some parts of the sector. Building consents are starting to turn the corner with a potential recovery in residential construction next year.

The NZX-50 index rose 21.62 points, or 0.698 per cent , to 3119.94 points - half that gain in the early trade today - despite Telecom shares falling 6c in early trade and finishing down 2c at 277.

After lifting 6.6 points on Friday, the index had advanced another 10 points by 10.15am.

Other shares to rise today were Mainfreight - up 5c in early trade and finishing ahead by 4c at 489 - Freightways lifted 3c in early trade, but finished 1c up at 298.

Similarly, Sky TV lost 6c during the morning, then finished down only 1c at 445.

Methven rose 5c, to 155, and Auckland Airport was up 2c to 179.

Sky City lost 6c during the morning but clawed back half that drop to finish down 3c at 323. NZX initially dropped 8c, but as volumes increased, finished the day down 5c at 765.

Australian stocks edged 0.3 per cent higher, helped by incremental gains from miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, and strong gold stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose 14.4 points to 4,449.8 at 0352 GMT, after rising as high as 4467.6.

In the United States, markets will be closed overnight for Labor Day. US stocks closed higher on Friday (local time) as investors focused on the bright side of a mixed payrolls report that showed smaller-than-expected job cuts in August, although the unemployment rate hit a 26-year high.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 1 per cent to end at 9441.27, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 1.3 per cent to 1016.40, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.8 per cent to close at 2018.78.

For the week, the Dow was down 1.1 per cent, the S&P 500 was off 1.2 per cent and the Nasdaq lost 0.5 per cent due to a sharp sell-off in the first three days of the week.

- NZPA