Fletcher shares climb

Fletcher Building shares continued their ascent in early trading, after the company reported better than expected results yesterday.

On top of yesterday's 56c - 8 per cent - rise, Fletcher Building shares were up another 15c in the first few minutes of trading today to $7.73.

The market as a whole had a sound start after stocks powered higher in the United States as the Federal Reserve said it saw signs of a more stable economy.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 24.54 points to 3104.23, following a 24.2-point gain yesterday.

Stocks rising early included Port of Tauranga up 10c to $6.60, Contact Energy up 5c to $6.30, NZX up 5c to $7.90, Nuplex up 5c to $2.20, and Steel & Tube up 5c to $3.16.

Sky City gained 3c to $3.38, Telecom added 3c to $2.79, Auckland Airport was up 2c to $1.72, Guinness Peat Group added 2c to 80, Mainfreight was up 2c to 497 and Sky TV lifted 2c to $4.59.

Dual-listed bank ANZ was up 50c early to $24.55.

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In the US, the Fed said the economy was leveling out, and it left interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day policy meeting.

The Fed also said it will extend the duration but not the size of a programme to buy long term government debt, which is part of its effort to revive credit and stimulate the economy.

"The Fed admitted the economy is getting better, but not so much better we're going to be terminating all of our programmes, which is what everybody was afraid of," said Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist at ChannelCapitalResearch.com.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.3 per cent to close at 9361.61, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1.2 per cent to 1005.81, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 1.5 per cent to 1998.72.

- NZPA