Moderate lift for NZ shares

The New Zealand sharemarket made moderate early gains as top stock Telecom lifted 5c.

Around 10.20am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 10 points to 3026.21, after gaining 22.2 points on Friday.

The 1.8 per cent rise in Telecom lifted its share price to $2.83, while among other leading stocks Fletcher Building was up 4c to $7.22 but Contact Energy lost 7c to $6.23.

Life Pharmacy shares rose 6c to 42c, after today announcing it had entered into a merger agreement with Pharmacybrands.

Steel & Tube was up 5c to $3.20, Mainfreight up 4c to $4.59, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 3c to $3.28, Nuplex up 3c to $1.93, NZ Oil & Gas up 2c to $1.64, and Rakon up 2c to $1.42.

Among shares to lose ground early, Hellaby Holdings was down 9c to $1.16, and NZ Refining slipped 3c to $7.07.

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In the United States, the stock market ended its best July in 20 years.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.2 per cent to 9171.61, the S&P 500 index rose 0.1 per cent to 987.48, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.3 per cent to 1978.50.

- NZPA