Strong start for NZ shares

The New Zealand sharemarket started strongly today after stocks surged in Europe and the United States.

Upbeat economic news in the euro zone and better-than-expected US home sales data bolstered appetite for riskier assets.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 21.2 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 3134.17, after yesterday edging up just 0.7 points on light volume.

Leading the surge in this country was the NZ Refining Co, with its shares gaining 57.4c, or 13 per cent, early to $4.98.

Fletcher Building was up 9c to $7.80 early, Port of Tauranga up 5c to $7.05, Mainfreight up 5c to $5.60, The Warehouse up 5c to $4.10, and Freightways up 5c to $3.15.

Other stocks to gain included Nuplex up 3c to $2.50, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare 3c to $3.24, Postie Plus 3c to 43, PGG Wrightson 3c to 70, Telecom 2c to $2.50, Steel & Tube 2c to $2.90, Sky City 2c to $3.33, Ryman 2c to $1.97, and Air NZ 2c to $1.29.

The main early fall was Ebos Group, which lost 5c to $5.90.

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In the United States, stocks snapped a three-day losing streak as stronger-than-expected home sales fuelled optimism while a weaker US dollar boosted commodity-linked stocks.

Preliminary figures put the Dow Jones industrial average up 1.3 per cent to end unofficially at 10,450.95. the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1.4 per cent to finish unofficially at 1106.24, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.4 per cent to close unofficially at 2176.01.

- NZPA