Solid start for NZ shares

The New Zealand sharemarket started the day with a solid increase after stocks in the United States rallied for a sixth straight day as the earnings season got off to a good start.

Alcoa, the largest United States aluminium producer, and seen as a bellwether for the economy, heartened investors in the US after it reported stronger than expected results and raised its estimate for global aluminium consumption.

"Many investors still are fearing deterioration in the economy, and that's why this earnings season is so important. It will illuminate what comes next from the view of management," said Lawrence Creatura, portfolio manager at Federated Clover Investment Advisors in Rochester, New York.

In this country the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 14.13 points to 3023.03 around 10.15am, having yesterday ended a run of seven consecutive days of gains with a 3.1-point dip.

Shares rising early today included Fletcher Building up 5c to $7.75, Hallenstein Glasson up 4c to $3.70, NZ Oil & Gas up 3c to $1.30, Telecom up 2c to $1.98, Tower up 2c to $1.80, NZX up 2c to $1.59, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 2c to $3.08.

Comvita was down 3c to $2.27, Northland Port Corp gained 3c to $1.63, Renaissance Corp was up 3c to 29c, and OceanaGold up 7c to $4.27.

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The Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.4 per cent to 10,363.02, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1.5 per cent to 1095.34, and the Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 2 per cent to 2242.03.

Even so, recent low volume suggests the market's longest winning streak since mid-April could be running out of steam, while the cost of protection in the options market against a market drop keeps growing.

- NZPA