NZ sharemarket rises early

The New Zealand sharemarket rose in early trade after stocks in the United States staged a broad rally with investors buoyed by improving data on manufacturing, consumer spending and construction.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 9.73 points to 3290.09, having fallen 5.8 points yesterday.

Shares rising early today included retailer The Warehouse, up 3c to $3.79, Sky TV up 3c to $5.03, Freightways up 3c to $3.23, and Fletcher Building up 3c to $8.41.

Stock exchange operator NZX also gained 3c early, to $1.83, after releasing its operational report for April which showed total trades 2 per cent ahead of April 2009 due to increased trading activity in debt securities, although the total value traded was down 11 per cent.

Telecom was unchanged on $2.17 and Contact Energy unchanged on $6.28, while Ebos Group lost 3c to $6.42.

Home fragrance company Ecoya, which debuted on the market yesterday at its issue price of $1, fell 4c early today to 95c

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In the US transport stocks had their best day in six months following an industry report that the US manufacturing sector grew in April at its fastest pace in almost six years and as UAL agreed to buy Continental Airlines to create the world's largest airline.

"All these numbers are good and continue to point to the economy doing very, very well," said Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco.

Details of a European financial rescue package for debt-stricken Greece also provided a measure of relief on an issue that has cast a cloud over the market in recent months.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.3 per cent to 11,151.83, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 1.3 per cent to 1202.26, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 1.5 per cent to 2498.74.

The government reported an unexpected rise in US construction spending in March, and consumer spending edged up for a sixth-straight month.

- NZPA