Firm start for NZ sharemarket, after US stock surge
The New Zealand sharemarket started the day firmly, after stocks in the United States stocks shot up following a pullback in oil prices and upbeat US labour market data.
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The New Zealand sharemarket started the day firmly, after stocks in the United States stocks shot up following a pullback in oil prices and upbeat US labour market data.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 11.7 points to 3409, following a 15.3-point gain yesterday. Today's early gain left the index only a few points below a 31-month high reached a fortnight ago.
Fletcher Building was up 7c early to 878, on top of a 17c gain yesterday, despite saying the Christchurch earthquake would knock $14 million to $24 million off its previously forecast full year net earnings. The reduction included $5m the company expected to provide to help with the recovery programme.
Abano Healthcare gained 5c to 460, NZ Refining Co was up 3c to 503, Nuplex gained 3c to 342, Freightways lifted 3c to 317, and Mainfreight was up 3c to 808.
Telecom edged up 1c to 215, and Contact Energy was unchanged early on 608.
In the US, investors were betting upcoming payrolls data would show a big gain in jobs, pushing Wall Street to its best one-day rally in three months, but weak volume lingered.
As oil paused from its recent climb, the market's focus shifted to stronger-than-expected economic data a day before the February US employment report.
Preliminary figures put the Dow Jones industrial average up 1.6 percent to 12,258.35, the Standard&Poor's 500 Index gained 1.7 percent to 1330.96, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.8 percent to 2798.74.
NZPA
Fri, 04 Mar 2011
Fri, 04 Mar 2011
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Firm start for NZ sharemarket, after US stock surge
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