The New Zealand sharemarket lifted early following strong gains for equities in Europe and the United States overnight.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 10.77 points to 3175.84, having risen only a modest 4.9 points yesterday despite news Fonterra had boosted its forecast payout to dairy farmers 19 per cent.
Auckland Airport shares fell 8c to 185 after infrastructure investor Infratil announced it had sold its 3.87 per cent investment in the airport at $1.84 per share.
Infratil shares were unchanged at 160.
Fletcher Building shares had a strong showing in early trading today, up 9c to 810 as they pulled further away from a two-month low of 786 reached on Thursday.
AMP shares rose 20c in this country to 760 as analysts pondered a merger plan with AXA that will give the company scale in New Zealand.
Contact Energy lifted 4c to 608, Port of Tauranga gained 4c to 709, Sky City was up 3c to 340, and Freightways was up 3c to 308, while Telecom added 1c to 253.
- NZPA
NZ shares up early
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