Shaky morning gains for NZX

The New Zealand sharemarket had a shaky start to trading this morning, rising a bit, falling a bit, and then rising again.

Earlier this morning the benchmark NZX-50 index, which opened at 3085.507, decided overall that things were positive -- and rose 5.815 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 3091.322.

Behind the rise was Telecom, which this morning announced that Australia's Macquarie Group had taken more than a 5 per cent stake in the company, rose 3c to $2.32.

Steel & Tube, which announces its first half results today, was up 4c to $2.80.

Fletcher Building gained 7c to $7.62, Rakon was up 1c to 99, Michael Hill International earned 1c to 69, and NZ Farming Systems Uruguay rose 1c to 43.

Stocks losing ground were AMP Office Trust, down 1c to 73, NZ Refining down 5c to $3.55, Contact Energy, losing 5c to $5.75 and Tower, shortening 1c to $1.96.

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In the US the Dow Jones industrial average was down 3.10 points, or 0.03 per cent, at 10,055.54. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 0.58 points, or 0.05 per cent, at 1069.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 1.54 points, or 0.07 per cent, at 2149.33.

Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.31 per cent, with blue-chip shares that had been sold off on concerns about fiscal stability in Europe regaining ground with news of potential aid for heavily indebted Greece. The Nikkei added 31.09 points to 9963.99, after edging down to a two-month closing low the previous day.

Australian stocks rose just 0.19 per cent, as worries about the bailout of Greece and Commonwealth Bank's uncertain outlook weighed on the banks, offsetting gains in the miners. The benchmark S&P ASX 200 index ended up 8.4 points at 4513.4.

- NZPA