NZ shares up in early trading

The New Zealand sharemarket rose in early trading with Fisher & Paykel Healthcare pulling itself off a nine-month low and Rakon reaching its highest level since early May.

Around 10.20am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 5.75 points to 3000.66, having gained 13.5 points on Friday.

Fletcher Building gained 4c to $7.67, F&P Healthcare was up 3c to $2.96 early, Rakon gained 2c to $1.00, Cavalier Corp lifted 2c to $2.52, and Telecom was up 1c to $1.97, while Contact Energy was unchanged on $5.66.

Retailers attracted some interest with The Warehouse up 2c to $3.58, and Postie Plus adding 6c to 37.

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In the United States on Friday, General Electric delivered a shot of confidence to US investors when it raised its dividend by 20 per cent. The move spurred heavy institutional buying and sparked a decisive move higher, a positive sign of rising investor optimism.

"GE is a company whose tentacles extend throughout large parts of the economy, and (the hike) clearly shows they're (having) a bit more visibility on their future cash flows," said Adrian Cronje, chief investment officer of Atlanta-based wealth management firm Balentine.

Still, he noted the new 12c dividend was far below the 31c per quarter the company paid its shareholders before February 2009.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 1 per cent to 10,424.62, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.8 per cent to 1102.66, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 1.1 per cent to 2269.47.

- NZPA