Modest early rise for NZ sharemarket

Tuesday 1st March 2011

The New Zealand sharemarket had a modest rise in early trading.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 4.89 points to 3375.41, having yesterday ended up 6.6 points.

Cavalier Corp (NZX: CAV ) rose 4c to $3.41 early, Telecom (NZX: TEL ) added 2c to $2.10, and Mainfreight (NZX: MFT ) lifted 2c to $8.10.

NZX (NZX: NZX ) added to its 9c jump yesterday, when it signalled growth both in its traditional and non-traditional businesses and increases in dividends, with a further 2c gain to $1.72.

Abano Healthcare (NZX: ABA ) fell 10c early to $4.60, Freightways (NZX: FRE ) fell 2c to $3.21, and Restaurant Brands (NZX: RBD ) was down 2c to $2.40.

In the US, bullish comments from investor Warren Buffett helped US stocks end another good month on a high note, but uncertainty about oil prices could keep investors from pushing the market much higher.

A sign stocks may stall out was evident in the lacklustre volume, with just 7.29 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq, well below last year's daily average of 8.47 billion.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.8% to 12,226.34, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.6% to 1327.24, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.04% to 2782.27.

NZPA

Comments from our readers

No comments yet