KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket's recovery in the second half of this week gathered momentum in early trading today after another strong performance on Wall Street.
US stocks roared higher for a second straight day today as oil prices tumbled further and the troubled banking sector extended its rebound on positive results from JPMorgan Chase.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average vaulted 1.7 per cent.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index, which yesterday gained 32 points, or 1.0 per cent, was today up 26 points, 0.9 per cent to 3117 at 10.20am.
The index hit a three-year low of 3001 on Wednesday morning before beginning its recovery.
Top stock Telecom was up 5c to 348, No 2 Contact Energy was up 7c to 755 and No 3 Fletcher Challenge was up 7c to 645.
Others to gain included Auckland Airport, 4c to 184, Tower, 3c to 205, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, 5c to 230 and Nuplex, 8c to 525.
NZ Oil & Gas lost 4c to 162 as oil prices fell again and following the abandonment of its partly owned Momoho well offshore from Taranaki.
Its associate, Pike River Coal, fell 3c to 220.
Rakon which gained strongly yesterday after announcing a joint venture in China, fell back 4c to 266.
* * *
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 207.38 points or 1.85 per cent to close at 11,446.66, a day after a powerful rally of more than 2.5 per cent.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite lifted 27.45 points or 1.20 per cent to 2312.30 and the Standard and Poor's 500 climbed 14.96 points or 1.20 per cent to 1260.32.
The S&P banking index was up some 8.7 per cent, extending its recovery, after JPMorgan Chase, like Wells Fargo a day earlier, reported that its quarterly profits fell but not as much as feared.
- NZPA
