Sharemarket starts week up

The New Zealand sharemarket opened the week on a positive note today.

The benchmark NZX50 index was up 9.182 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 3116.27 in the opening 15 minutes today with a handful of stocks improving.

Telecom rose 3c to $2.37, Guinness Peat Group gained 1c to 83 and Pike River Coal was up 1c to 94.

Kiwi Income Property Trust was unchanged at 99, as was Fisher & Paykel Healthcare at $3.30.

Fletcher Building was down 2c to $7.90 and Goodman Fielder lost 3c to $1.92.

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In the United States on Friday stocks edged higher in choppy trading as investors took the Federal Reserve's surprise increase in its discount rate as further evidence the financial system is strengthening.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 10.66 points, or 0.10 per cent, to 10,403.56. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 2.51 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 1109.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2.78 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 2244.49.

Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 2.1 per cent, with resource-linked shares such as Mitsui hurt after the US Federal Reserve's discount rate. The Nikkei lost 212.11 points to 10,123.58 but still eked out a gain of 31.39 points, or 0.3 per cent, on the week for its second week of gains in a row.

Australian stocks fell 0.4 per cent, also held back by the US Federal Reserve's decision and by disappointing results from top lender National Australia Bank.

The S&P ASX200 index fell 19.81 points to 4,635.10, but was higher on the week by 73 points.

- NZPA