NZ sharemarket rises in early trading

File photo / Kenny Rodger

The New Zealand sharemarket rose in early trading as positive US data continued to fuel overseas investors' optimism.

Around 10.15am, the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 5.610 points, or 0.177 per cent, at 3166.607.

Leading the way, Steel & Tube was up 9c to $2.59, Contact Energy was up 5c to $5.79, and Fisher & Paykel Appliances was up 1c to 54.

Telecom rose 1c to $2.05, recovering from losses last week when it did not make a prioritised list for a portion of the Government's ultra-fast broadband project. Analysts said the priority areas excluded the cities of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch so there was more to play out in the situation.

The Warehouse was up 3c to $3.73 following it Friday's announcement of a $83.2 million net profit after tax for the year ended August 1, down 2.4 per cent from last year. After reducing $22.8m relating to government tax charges, the net profit after tax was down 21.6 per cent to $60.2m.

Air New Zealand rose 1c to $1.28 despite its plans with Virgin Blue for a trans-Tasman alliance being kicked back after Australia's competition regulator issued a draft decision to deny them permission.

AMP rose 4c to $6.37, Hellaby Holdings was up 1c to $1.76, Mainfreight was up 4c to $7.03, and Auckland Airport was up 1c to $2.07.

Fletcher Building was unchanged at $8.25.

In the red, Pike River Coal was down 1c to $1.05, Rakon 1c to $1.18 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare 2c to $2.91.

Allied Farmers was unmoved at 3.4c. On Friday, it announced an earlier than expected settlement of the sale of its Five Mile property. And late in the day it disclosed an unaudited $77.58 million loss after writing off goodwill for its collapsed finance company.

Retailer Briscoe Group was also unchanged at $1.25 after reporting a strong rise in underlying earnings, which it attributed to cost control and aggressive promotional activity in a difficult trading environment.

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In US, The Dow and S&P 500 closed the week with their seventh gain in eight sessions in a turnaround period for stocks that has seen investors' worst fears about the economy start to dissipate.

The release of a strong US wholesale inventories report may have added fuel to the rally.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 47.53 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 10,462.77. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 5.37 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 1109.55. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 6.28 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 2242.48.

For the week, the Dow closed up 0.1 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 0.5 per cent, while the Nasdaq rose 0.4 per cent.

- NZPA