The New Zealand sharemarket was flat in early trading after official interest rates in both this country and the United States were left unchanged.The Reserve Bank left the New Zealand official cash rate at 2.5 percent, with Governor Alan Bollard saying t
The New Zealand sharemarket was flat in early trading after official interest rates in both this country and the United States were left unchanged.
The Reserve Bank left the New Zealand official cash rate at 2.5 percent, with Governor Alan Bollard saying the economy was recovering broadly as expected, with growth predicted to pick up further through 2010.
In the United States, the Federal Reserve said it would keep interest rates low for an extended period, while pointing to signs of strength in the US economy, comments that gave some relief to investors worried about possible debt defaults in Europe.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 1.63 points to 3282.19, having fallen 11.4 points yesterday.
Hallenstein Glasson shares were down 2c to 353, Nuplex fell 2c to 335, Fletcher Building slipped 1c to 833, and Telecom eased 1c to 219.
Shares rising early included Trustpower, up 5c to 745, Sanford up 4c to 435, Freightways up 4c to 320, Ebos Group up 4c to 649, and Contact Energy up 4c to 627.
Shares in NZ Oil and Gas slipped 1c to 154, with the company today reporting operating revenue of $30.2 million for the March quarter, with revenue for the first time from the Kupe oil and gas field, which contributed $13.2m.
The Fed's comments in the US lifted bank shares, while investors also scooped up shares beaten-down in the previous day's selloff after debt downgrades for Greece and Portugal.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.5 percent to 11,045.27, the Standard&Poor's 500 Index rose 0.7 percent to 1191.36, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.01 percent to 2471.73.
