KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket edged up in early trading, led higher by Fletcher Building and The Warehouse.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 3.1 points to 2755.26, following a 9.3-point gain on Friday.
Fletcher Building shares rose 4c early to $5.89, with The Warehouse up 5c to $3.65.
Other stocks to gain early included Tower, up 2c to $1.62, Nuplex up 3c to $3.10, and Contact Energy up 1c to $7.33.
Stocks to lose ground early included Mainfreight, down 4c to $4.68, Fisher & Paykel Appliances down 1c to $1.32, and ING Medical Properties Trust down 1c to $1.10.
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In the United States, stocks closed moderately higher on Friday (local time) after an erratic session that had investors tussling with concerns about the ongoing problems in the banking industry in response to more billion-dollar losses at Citigroup and Bank of America.
Yet investors were also heartened by plans for both banks to restore themselves to profitability, and they were also willing to place bets on a range of consumer and industrial stocks.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.8 per cent to 8281.22, the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.8 per cent to 850.12, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 1.2 per cent to 1529.33.
For the week, the Dow fell 3.7 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 4.5 per cent and the Nasdaq skidded 2.7 per cent.
- NZPA
