The New Zealand sharemarket rose in early trading as encouraging US data kept investors optimistic ahead of tonight's US monthly payroll figures.With stable US jobless claims and a surprise increase of pending home sales, overseas markets held their groun
The New Zealand sharemarket rose in early trading as encouraging US data kept investors optimistic ahead of tonight's US monthly payroll figures.
With stable US jobless claims and a surprise increase of pending home sales, overseas markets held their ground, and now attention shifts to the US's non-farm payroll report, which is expected to show about 100,000 jobs were lost in August.
The benchmark NZX-50 index opened up 9.946 points, or 0.323 percent, at 3092.43 with the majority of stocks showing gains.
The sharemarket continues to demonstrate its resilience in the wake of the collapse of South Canterbury Finance and the triggering of the Crown retail deposit guarantee by opening strong for a third consecutive day.
Telecom rose 2c to 205, Fletcher Building rose 2c to 770, and Contact Energy rose 1c to 562.
Other gainers were New Zealand Oil and Gas, up 1c to 121, Trustpower, up 2c to 718, and Rakon, up 1c to 117.
AMP Officer Trust rose 1c to 74, Goodman Property rose 1c to 94, and Nuplex rose 2c to 320.
NZX Limited gained 1c to 140 after being the only New Zealand company to feature in Forbes Magazine's list of 200 "best under a billion" top-performing companies in Asia.
The only two showing loses were Auckland Airport, down 1c to 202 and Tower Limited, down 1c to 189.
NZ Farming Systems Uruguay was flat at 69c after directors recommended Olam International's 70c a share offer; and Fisher&Paykel Healtcare was also unmoved at 298 following money-manager Mondrian Investment Partners Limited taking a five percent stake in the company.
In the US, The Dow Jones industrial average added 50.63 points, or 0.49 percent, to 10,320.10. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index rose 9.81 points, or 0.91 percent, to 1090.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 23.17 points, or 1.06 percent, to close at 2200.01.
