Modest early gain for NZ sharemarket

Dual-listed banks were well out in front of the pack when the New Zealand sharemarket opened with modest gains today.

ANZ was up 50c or 1.6 per cent to $31.00, while Westpac gained 42c or 1.2 per cent to $34.72.

Steel & Tube lifted 6c or 2.4 per cent early, but only on small volume, while Ebos Group was up 4c to $6.30, Sky City gained 2c to $3.21, and Rakon added 2c to $1.04.

Among leading shares, Telecom was unchanged early at $2.19, Contact Energy slipped 1c to $6.18, with Fletcher Building also easing 1c, to $7.96.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 4.2 points to 3187.44, after yesterday posting its fifth straight gain with a 19.1-point lift.

Children's clothing company Pumpkin Patch gained a further 3c to $2.12, having lifted 9c yesterday after reporting interim profit up 50 per cent. Lyttelton Port fell 5c to $2.40, while Windflow Technology gained 8c to $1.33.

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In the United States stocks ended slightly higher as mergers and acquisitions supported some sectors, while investors pared gains in big-cap technology and bank shares late in the session.

The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 0.02 per cent to 10,405.98, according to preliminary figures. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.2 per cent to 1118.31, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.3 per cent to 2280.79.

- NZPA