Vigorous opening for NZ shares

The New Zealand sharemarket opened vigorously this morning, with the NZX-50 benchmark index quickly gaining 20 points, following strong gains in on US markets overnight.

Among leading shares, Telecom gained 5c to $2.69, Contact rested at $5.80, Fletcher Building jumped 13c to $6.80 and Sky City rose 4c to $2.73 shortly after open today.

However, the local market was "completely directionless" ahead of the June 30 balance date reporting season, Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton, Hindin, Greene said.

"We are still completely directionless in the New Zealand marketplace and everyone continues to wait for the corporate reporting season."

In other stocks, Air New Zealand's share price rose almost 5 per cent, or 4c, to 92c, The Warehouse was up 1c to $3.76, Infratil was up 2c and Methven up 2c to $1.35.

Goodman Property fell 1c to 91c, Rakon dipped slightly then returned to $1.45, and Trustpower fell 5c to $7.45.

Around 10.10am, the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 20.289 to 2784.370, having yesterday risen 15.58 points.

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US stocks racked up strong gains on Wednesday, sparked by results from bellwether Intel Corp that lifted hopes for a rebound in technology spending and improved corporate profitability.

The broad S&P 500 had gained 6.1 per cent so far this week, its best three days since the rally began in March, as companies, including Intel and Goldman Sachs Group, posted much better-than-expected results.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 256.72 points, or 3.07 per cent, to 8,616.21. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 26.84 points, or 2.96 per cent, to 932.68, its best gain in nearly two months and putting it solidly back into the black for the year. The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 63.17 points, or 3.51 per cent, to 1862.90.

- NZPA