KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket had a solid start to trading, building on yesterday's surge and following continued gains in US equities.
With its annual result out tomorrow, top stock Telecom helped pull the market ahead, adding 4c early to 372 on top of a 1c gain yesterday.
Momentum continued for previously beaten up stock Fletcher Building, which ended yesterday up 26c and early today added a further 9c to be at 670.
Around 10.10am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 19.18 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 3371.52, following a gain of 1.72 per cent yesterday.
Rakon strengthened 13c early to 290 on top of a 21c gain yesterday as Goldman Sachs JB Were initiated coverage with a buy recommendation.
Among other rising stocks was Contact Energy which gained 7c to 860, while both Fisher & Paykel companies added 3c - Appliances to 202 and Healthcare to 281.
Infratil was also up 3c, to 225, with The Warehouse also gaining 3c, to 348.
Port of Tauranga was down 8c early to 651, while dual-listed ANZ was down 36c to 2240 and Westpac was up 16c to 2900.
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US stocks built on the previous day's big gains, as a further drop in oil prices to a three-month low below US$118 a barrel, and a reassuring outlook from Cisco Systems overshadowed persistent credit concerns.
Cisco, the maker of equipment that directs Web traffic, set the tone for tech shares after it posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit and said it expects the weak economic environment to be relatively short lived. Its shares jumped nearly 6 per cent.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.35 per cent to 11,656.07, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.33 per cent to 1289.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.21 per cent to 2378.37.
- NZPA
