Shares start week firm

The New Zealand sharemarket started the week firmly, as top stock Telecom gained 4c in early trading to $2.81.

The positive start in this country comes after stocks in the United States rallied on Friday, as the US July jobs report was not as bleak as feared and underpinned hopes the economy was on track for recovery.

The data boosted stocks across the board, but especially consumer-dependent retailers, and all three major US stock indexes wrapped up a fourth week of gains.

Around 10.15am today the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 16.52 points to 3085.51, after reaching a 10-month high last Wednesday around 3113.

Retailer Hallenstein Glasson was looking particularly perky, up 11c or 3.9 per cent to $2.90, equalling its 10-month high reached last week.

Other early risers included NZ Refining Co up 5c to $6.85, Sanford up 5c to $5.25, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 4c to $3.33, and Nuplex up 4c to $2.04.

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In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 1.2 per cent at 9370.07, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1.3 per cent at 1010.48, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.4 per cent at 2000.25.

For the week, the Dow was up 2.2 per cent, the S&P 500 was up 2.3 per cent and the Nasdaq was up 1.1 per cent.

- NZPA