KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket recovered yesterday's losses in early trading today following a strong session on Wall Street.
US stocks rocketed higher as the latest slide in crude oil and news that investment giant Merrill Lynch was taking steps to shore up its finances energised the market.
The local benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 23.5 points to 3260 at 10.20am.
Top stock Telecom, which was reported to be likely to go through another round of job cutting and outsourcing, was up 3c to 362.
No 2 stock Contact Energy rose 7c to 827 while No 3 stock Fletcher Building was up 13c to 638.
ANZ Bank responded to a recovery in bank stocks in the US with a 84c jump to 2099.
Ebos was up 8c to 460, while Sky TV rose 4c to 459 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 5c to 265 as the NZ dollar fell half a cent.
Air NZ responded to the drop in fuel prices with a 2c gain to 125 while investment company Hellaby rose 6c to 170.
Richina Pacific fell 2c to 46 after announcing a sharp drop in half year net profit.
***
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average leapt 262.33 points (2.36 per cent) to 11,393.41 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite vaulted 55.40 points (2.45 per cent) to 2319.62 at the closing bell.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rallied 28.48 points (2.31 per cent) to a preliminary close of 1262.85.
- NZPA
