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The New Zealand sharemarket has started the trading day strongly, after a climb in United States stocks.
Among the market leaders in this country, Telecom was up 6c early to $2.42 on top of an 8c rise yesterday, while Contact Energy added 10c to $6.84 after gaining 12c yesterday.
Fletcher Building, which yesterday said it was pulling the plug on a deal to buy as Australian steel product company because of market volatility, recovered its losses from yesterday in early trading with an 11c gain to $5.68.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 19.86 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 2657.77. Yesterday it ended the day with a modest 3-point gain.
Mainfreight added to its 7c gain yesterday, rising 8c early to $4.35. Yesterday chairman Bruce Plested received a Beacon award and praise from the NZ Shareholders' Association.
Following a two-day battering, after it predicted a fall in ebitda, resins and chemicals company Nuplex had a small turn around early today with its shares lifting 5c to $3.45.
Stocks adding 3c early included Pike River Coal, to $1.02, Rakon to $1.22, Ryman Healthcare to $1.38, and The Warehouse to $3.53.
Steel & Tube was up 5c to $2.78, with Tower also gaining 5c, to $1.50.
Sanford was down 1c to $5.34, after losing 5c yesterday even though it posted a strong annual profit. The company gave little guidance on the outlook.
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US stocks rose as investors snapped up tech stocks, trading near their cheapest levels in five years, and renewed hopes of a General Motors bailout helped investors shrug off data depicting a worsening global economic downturn.
Unofficially, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.9 per cent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 3.5 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 4.6 per cent.
- NZPA
