NZ sharemarket gains early

Thursday 31st March 2011

The New Zealand sharemarket rose to its highest level since June 2008 in early trading, as it looked to continue a run of gains that has gone on for 11 successive trading days.

Around 10.25am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 4.67 points to 3437.82, having topped 3440 earlier.

Fletcher Building (NZX: FBU ) rose 6c early to $9.26, Port of Tauranga (NZX: POT ) was up 6c to $8.25, Sky TV (NZX: SKT ) gained 3c to $5.63, The Warehouse (NZX: WHS ) lifted 2c to $3.53, Telecom (NZX: TEL ) was unchanged on $2.01.5.

Stocks falling early included Ebos Group (NZX: EBO ), 5c lower at $7.55, Mainfreight (NZX: MFT ) down 2c to $8.93, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (NZX: FPH ) down 2c to $3.14, and Contact Energy (NZX: CEN ) down 2c to $5.83.

In the US, stocks rose in activity dominated by money managers buying recent winners, including energy and small-caps, as the quarter nears its end.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 0.6% to 12,350.61, the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 0.7% to 1328.26, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7% to 2776.79.

NZPA

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