The New Zealand sharemarket edged up in early trade as top stock Telecom continued the ascent that took off at the start of April.
Telecom was up 3c early to $2.85, having been as low as $2.24 on April 1, and is now at 6-1/2-month highs.
Among other leading shares, Fletcher Building lost 5c to $6.65, after yesterday benefiting from the Reserve Bank's move to signal lower interest rates are here for many months with a 32c gain.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 4.5 points to 2745.09, having yesterday leapt ahead 41 points.
Mainfreight gained 6c early to $4.61, Hellaby Holdings lifted 3c to 58, Freightways was up 2c to $2.92, and ING Property up 2c to 58.
Steel & Tube lifted 14c to $3.00, Ebos Group gained 7c to $4.92, and Hallenstein Glasson was up 4c to $2.60, but all three were on volume of less than 1000.
Retailer Briscoe Group was unchanged on 82c after reporting first quarter sales 0.1 per cent lower than a year earlier to $90.2 million.
***
In the United States, shares were hit by Chrysler's bankruptcy filing which undercut optimism about upbeat corporate profits and reassuring job market data.
Despite that the Standard & Poor's 500 closed out its best month in nine years.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.2 per cent to 8168.12, the S&P 500 Index dipped 0.1 per cent to 872.81, but the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.3 per cent to 1717.30.
- NZPA
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
