NZ shares start strong

The New Zealand sharemarket started the day strongly after global stocks rallied.

Fletcher Building made a firm early showing, adding 12c to $7.15, while among other market leaders Telecom lifted 2c to $2.86 and Contact Energy was up 2c to $6.32.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 29.42 points to 3023.42, after yesterday gaining just 3.5 points as investors paused to take stock following the Reserve Bank's decision to leave interest rates unchanged at 2.5 per cent.

Retailer Briscoe Group was unchanged early today after reporting a 3.7 per cent rise in second quarter sales compared to a year earlier.

Among other early risers Sky TV was up 7c to $4.42, Sky City rose 5c to $3.33, Steel & Tube gained 5c to $3.10, and Trustpower lifted 5c to $7.85.

The Warehouse was up 4c to $3.94, NZ Oil & Gas added 4c to $1.62, Freightways was up 3c to $3.14, Ryman Healthcare gained 3c to $1.72, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare added 3c to 325. Retailer Hallenstein Glasson lifted 10c early to $2.70 but on low volume.

Dual-listed bank ANZ gained 55c to 2255, while Westpac gained 36c to 2701.

The main early fall was a 10c decline by NZ Refining to $7.15.

***

The promising start in this country came after Tokyo's main stock gauge hit its highest close in nine months, European equities closed at their highest in nearly nine months and Britain's top share index ended close to a seven-month high.

In the US, stocks rose as solid corporate profit reports and a drop in the number of Americans on jobless benefits gave investors reasons to buy equities following the S&P 500's two days of losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 0.9 per cent to close at 9154.46, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1.2 per cent to 986.75, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.8 per cent to 1984.30.

- NZPA