NZ shares gain on Wall St jump

The New Zealand sharemarket started the day with sound gains after stocks in the United States jumped, driving the S&P 500 to an eight-month closing high.

In this country Fletcher Building gained 8c early to $6.90, while among other leading stocks Telecom was up 2c to $2.75 and Contact Energy gained 3c to $5.93.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 19.35 points to 2840.26. After climbing on each of the five previous trading days the index was early today back at levels last seen in early June.

The early risers today included Mainfreight up 7c to $4.14, Port of Tauranga up 5c to $6.15, Hellaby Holdings up 4c to $1.16, Cavalier Corporation up 4c to $1.96, and Auckland Airport up 3c to $1.58.

Shares lifting 2c included Sky City to $2.88, Ryman Healthcare to $1.54, Rakon to $1.42, Air New Zealand to 95, Tower to $1.73, and Steel & Tube to $2.90.


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In the US, the rise in stocks came after CIT Group was thrown a lifeline to avoid bankruptcy, and investors bet corporate America would log another strong set of earnings this week.

Broker upgrades of technology bellwethers, including Cisco Systems, propelled the Nasdaq to its ninth straight daily advance - matching a streak from July 1998. The Nasdaq closed at a high for the year.

The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 1.2 per cent to 8848.15, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 1.1 per cent to 951.13, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.2 per cent to 1909.29.

The rally extended the market's recovery since the 12-year lows in early March. The Nasdaq hit its highest close since October 2008, while the Dow registered its highest close since January 2009.

- NZPA