Sharemarket rises early

Tuesday 21st December 2010

The New Zealand sharemarket rose in early trading, with two leading shares both gaining around half a percent.

Fletcher Building (NZX: FBU ) was up 4c to $7.70, after being unchanged yesterday when Crane Group directors rejected its offer.

Contact Energy (NZX: CEN ) was also up 4c, to $6.18, after losing 10c yesterday, as rain across the country was thought likely to bring wholesale electricity prices down.

The Warehouse (NZX: WHS ) lifted 2c to $3.60, Steel & Tube (NZX: STU ) gained 2c to $2.17, Telecom (NZX: TEL ) was up 1c to $2.20, OceanaGold (NZX: OGC ) gained 15c to a two-month high $5.13, Turners & Growers (NZX: TUR ) was up 10c to $1.50, and Xero (NZX: XRO ) rose 3c to $2.40.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 7.51 points to 3307.47, after a 25.2-point fall yesterday.

In the US, stocks edged higher, led by gains in energy shares and pushing the Standard & Poor's 500 to a two-year high as equities continued their steady upward march.

The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 0.1% to 11,477.98, the S&P 500 gained 0.3% to 1247.14, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3% to 2649.56.

NZPA

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