NZ sharemarket opens stronger

The New Zealand sharemarket opened stronger today, improving from a week of loses as investors continued to worry over European sovereign debt.

About 10am, the benchmark NZX-50 index opened up 26 points or 0.87 per cent at 3076.612 with the majority of companies in positive ground, a slight improvement after hitting a nine-month low last week when the index sank as much as 2.6 per cent.

The market made a small comeback as risk appetite rebounded with European policy makers saying the euro was not in danger, and news Germany's parliament had approved the European Union rescue package.

Among the leading shares, Fletcher Building was up 8c to $7.95 and Contact Energy jumped 2c to $5.97.

Telecom was among the couple of losing shares, down 2c to $1.97. It slipped below the $2.00 level last week for the first time, falling 6c to $1.99 on Friday.

Restaurant Brands were down 1c to $2.20.

Shares going up were Mainfreight up 9c to $6.10, SkyCity was up 4c to $2.96, and TrustPower was up 4c to $7.80.

Freightways jumped 2c to $3.07, Steel and Tube Holdings Limited was up 2c to $2.52 and Tourism Holding was up 1 to 85.

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In the United States, stocks snapped a three-day losing streak on Friday as investors bought beaten-down shares on bets the financial regulation bill won't be as onerous as some had feared.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 125.38 points, or 1.25 per cent, to 10,193.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 16.10 points, or 1.50 per cent, to 1087.69. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 25.03 points, or 1.14 per cent, to 2229.04.

- NZPA