NZ sharemarket rises early

NZPA

Monday 4th July 2011

The New Zealand sharemarket rose in early trading after stocks in the United States chalked up their best week in two years last week, helped by strong manufacturing data that eased concerns about slowing growth.

Around 10.15am today the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 11.49 points to 3486.5, after gaining more than 26 points after reaching a three-month low under 3415 points on Wednesday.

Fletcher Building shares were up 9c to 869 early, after hitting a four-month low 842 on Wednesday, Mainfreight gained 6c to 1025, Contact Energy was up 6c to 546, Port of Tauranga lifted 4c to 905, and Telecom was up 1c to 252.5.

Shares in beverage company Charlie's were untraded after closing at 28c on Friday. A takeover bid for the business by Japanese giant Asahi was announced today at 44c per share.

In the US, stocks started July with a bang on Friday (US time) with Wall Street scoring its best week in two years.

For the day, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.4 percent to end at 12,582.77, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 1.4 percent, to finish unofficially at 1339.67. The Nasdaq Composite Index shot up 1.5 percent to 2816.03.

For the week, the Dow rose 5.4 percent, the S&P 500 gained 5.6 percent and the Nasdaq climbed 6.2 percent.

Comments from our readers

No comments yet