The New Zealand sharemarket opened the week on a positive note today.The benchmark NZX50 index was up 9.182 points, or 0.3 percent, to 3116.27 in the opening 15 minutes today with a handful of stocks improving.Telecom rose 3c to 237, Guinness Peat Group g
The New Zealand sharemarket opened the week on a positive note today.
The benchmark NZX50 index was up 9.182 points, or 0.3 percent, to 3116.27 in the opening 15 minutes today with a handful of stocks improving.
Telecom rose 3c to 237, Guinness Peat Group gained 1c to 83 and Pike River Coal was up 1c to 94.
Kiwi Income Property Trust was unchanged at 99, as was Fisher&Paykel Healthcare at 330.
Fletcher Building was down 2c to 790 and Goodman Fielder lost 3c to 192.
In the United States on Friday stocks edged higher in choppy trading as investors took the Federal Reserve's surprise increase in its discount rate as further evidence the financial system is strengthening.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 10.66 points, or 0.10 percent, to 10,403.56. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index added 2.51 points, or 0.23 percent, to 1109.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2.78 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2244.49.
Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 2.1 percent, with resource-linked shares such as Mitsui hurt after the US Federal Reserve's discount rate. The Nikkei lost 212.11 points to 10,123.58 but still eked out a gain of 31.39 points, or 0.3 percent, on the week for its second week of gains in a row.
Australian stocks fell 0.4 percent, also held back by the US Federal Reserve's decision and by disappointing results from top lender National Australia Bank. The S&P ASX200 index fell 19.81 points to 4,635.10, but was higher on the week by 73 points.
