Specialist Igor Lerner smiles as he works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Photo/ AP
The New Zealand sharemarket has opened up slightly this morning, after a strange night on Wall St saw shares plunge down, then finish the day trading up nearly 5 per cent.
The benchmark NZX-50 index is now up 54 points at 2819. this is a 1.9 per
cent increase.
Top stock Telecom is up 5 cents at $2.28, while Contact Energy shares are up 17c at $7.30 each.
Fletcher Building shares are doing well, up 29c at $6.15.
The Warehouse is up 23cto $3.80, after Australia's top grocer Woolworths announced yesterday it was dropping its move to appeal a court ruling blocking it from bidding for The Warehouse.
This month, The Warehouse said it had scrapped plans to expand into the groceries market, so removing one of the competition regulator's main concerns about a bid for the group by Woolworths.
Other large gains were made in early trading by Pike River Coal, up 9c to $1.38, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 7c to $2.94, and Sky City up 6c to $3.05.
Shares rising 5c included Infratil, to $1.95, Methven to $1.30, NZX to $5.95, NZ Farming Systems Uruguay to $1.20, Ryman Healthcare to $1.50, and Trustpower to $6.90.
Two of the biggest stocks to feel the heat in yesterday's trading were Fletcher Building and Telecom, dropping 5.9 per cent and 8.6 per cent respectively.
The NZX50, closed yesterday down 139.95 points, or 4.82 per cent, at 2764.69 - one of the biggest falls since the global financial crisis.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average vaulted 401.35 points (4.68 per cent) to close at 8,979.26 in a session that saw an 800-point swing for the blue-chip index.
The sharp rebound from yesterday's selloff lifted the Nasdaq composite 89.38 points (5.49 per cent) to 1,717.71 and the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index 38.59 points (4.25 per cent) to 946.43.
The market opened with steep losses amid weak US economic data and fresh turmoil in global markets including an 11 per cent plunge in Tokyo's main index.
- HERALD ONLINE/ NZPA / AP
