NZ Shares: Moderate early gains on local market

The New Zealand sharemarket made moderate early gains after markets in the United States continued to improve at the end of last week.

Among leading stocks Contact Energy was up 5c to $5.95, Fletcher Building lifted 10c to $6.00 and Telecom was unchanged on $2.40.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 8.43 points to 2622.91, having gained 28.7 points on Friday.

Ryman Healthcare was up 5c to $1.47, on top of a 4c gain on Friday when it reassured investors it was continuing to trade well and in line with guidance.

Rakon lifted 4c to $1.29, and NZ Oil & Gas added 2c to $1.39.

Stocks losing ground early included Trustpower, down 15c to $6.95, and Pike River Coal down 2c to 80.

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US stocks rose on Friday with the Dow Jones industrial average marking its best four-week winning streak since 1933, lifted by robust results from Research in Motion and comments by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the central bank will do everything it can to stabilise banks.

Growing conviction that the worst is over for the economy helped Wall Street shrug off dour jobs data showing the highest unemployment rate since 1983.

The Dow climbed 0.5 per cent to 8017.59, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1 per cent to 842.50, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.2 per cent.

For the week, the Dow rose 3.1 per cent, while the S&P 500 advanced 3.3 per cent and the Nasdaq jumped 5 per cent.

- NZPA