NZ sharemarket edges higher in early trading

By NZPA

Tuesday 13th March 2007

The sharemarket moved warily into positive territory in featureless early trading today.

The benchmark NZSX-50 was up 6.59 to 4094.72 at 10.15am, having recovered from morning weakness yesterday to end eight points ahead.

Today, not a single stock in the top 50 index changed more than five cents.

Market leader Telecom was up 3c to $4.86, Sky City was up 2c to $4.80, as was Ryman to $2.17.

The only red down arrows were beside GPG, down 1c to $2.32, Rakon, down 3c to $4.82 and Contact Energy, down 3c to $8.96.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 5c to $3.94, as was Vector, to $2.90, while Tower was up 4c to $2.39.

On Wall Street, United States stocks advanced, helped by deal news, cheaper oil and positive broker comments on the chip sector.

Among acquisitions, private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. said it would buy discount retailer Dollar General Corp. for about $US6.9 billion ($NZ10b).

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 42.30 points, or 0.34%, to end at 12,318.62. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ended up 3.75 points, or 0.27%, to finish at 1406.60 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 14.74 points, or 0.62%, to close at 2402.29.

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