The New Zealand sharemarket took heart from gains on overseas markets to advance in early trading today.The benchmark NZX-50 index was up 13.39 points, or 0.43 percent, to 3160.75 in the first 10 minutes.The three top weighted stocks were all in positive
The New Zealand sharemarket took heart from gains on overseas markets to advance in early trading today.
The benchmark NZX-50 index was up 13.39 points, or 0.43 percent, to 3160.75 in the first 10 minutes.
The three top weighted stocks were all in positive territory.
Telecom rose 3c to 238, after slipping following yesterday's announcement of a $5m compensation package for users affected by its XT network outage.
Fletcher Building edged up 2c to 785 and Contact Energy firmed 5c to 585.
Auckland International Airport, which had its trading halt lifted yesterday after successfully raising $126.4 million from institutional investors, was unchanged at 196 after a 6c gain yesterday.
Other stocks to rise in early trading included Fisher and Paykel Appliances, up 1c to 61, Hallenstein Glasson 5c to 370, Mainfreight 7c to 590, NZ Refining 4c to 379, Pyne Gould Corp 1c to 47 and Sky City 3c to 325.
Among the top 50 stocks only three posted early losses and all were restricted to 1c -- Air NZ to 130, Pike River Coal to 97 and Cavalier to 277.
On Wall Street, stocks prices lifted on encouraging earnings and as a rise in pending home sales helped calm fears of weakness in the housing market.
The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 106.78 points, or 1.05 percent, to 10,292.31. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index gained 13.10 points, or 1.20 percent, to 1102.28. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 17.42 points, or 0.80 percent, to 2188.62, after rising 1.03 percent in late afternoon trading to an intraday high at 2,193.66.
