The New Zealand sharemarket started the day strongly, after Wall Street rebounded following three days of declines.
Around 10.20am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 20.13 points to 3349.71, having yesterday edged up 2.8 points.
Fletcher Building gained 6c early today to 874, Telecom added 1.5c to 201 and Contact
Energy was up 3c to 587.
Cavalier Corp added 8c to 348, NZX gained 5c to 208, Sky City lifted 3c to 330, Air New Zealand was up 3c to 116, and Auckland Airport gained 2c to 214.
Outdoor clothing and equipment company Kathmandu Holdings was up 6c to 209, on top of a 9c gain yesterday after reporting a 28.4 percent rise in half year earnings.
In the United States, natural resource stocks helped lead the market as commodity prices rebounded. Tensions in the Middle East and North Africa drove oil prices up sharply.
But options activity showed traders were increasing hedges against another decline in stocks.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 1.4 percent at 11,774.51, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1.3 percent at 1273.69, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.7 percent at 2636.05.
The MSCI world equity index gained 1.3 percent after hitting a three-month low earlier in the week, while the Thomson Reuters global stock index gained 0.8 percent, and the FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 1.8 percent as a recent sell-off attracted bargain hunters.
- NZPA
