Solid start to week for NZ sharemarket

The New Zealand sharemarket started the week strongly, with key share Telecom adding 4c as it struggles to pull away from a record low earlier in the month.

The positive start also came after China announced it would resume making the yuan more flexible, signalling it was ready to break a 23-month-old peg to the United States dollar.

There was speculation the Chinese move could improve investor appetite for risky assets such as stocks.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 15.18 points to 3062.68, having added 1.8 points on Friday.

Telecom shares gained 4c, or 2.1 per cent, early to $1.93, having dropped as low as $1.79 earlier in June.

Other early risers included Nuplex up 5c to $3.08, NZ Refining Co up 5c to $3.15, Ebos Group up 4c to $6.30, Rakon up 4c to 90, Fletcher Building up 3c to $8.17 and Contact Energy up 3c to $5.80.

Hallenstein Glasson dropped 4c to $3.59, Michael Hill International slipped 2c to 67 and Hellaby Holdings was down 2c to $1.61.

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In the United States stocks ground higher in another lightly traded session on Friday, ending a nervous week with gains despite signs of economic weakness at home and worries about public debt in Europe.

Major indexes rose for the second straight week even though housing and labour market data raised concern about the fragility of the recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.2 per cent to 10,450.64, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.1 per cent to 1117.51, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.1 per cent to 2309.80.

For the week, the Dow and the S&P 500 gained 2.4 per cent and the Nasdaq added 3 per cent.

- NZPA