Sharemarket rises modestly early

Wednesday 9th March 2011

The New Zealand sharemarket was modestly higher in early trading today, despite a strong performance by equities in the US.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 2.77 points to 3423.95, after losing 8.9 points yesterday.

Mainfreight (NZX: MFT ) was up 8c at one point in early trade, but shortly after the gain eased to 3c, taking the stock to $8.85.

The company's shares ended up 23c yesterday and up 47c on Monday after Mainfreight announced it had agreed to buy Netherlands-based transport and logistics firm Wim Bosman Group. During yesterday's trading the shares reached a record high $8.95.

OceanaGold (NZX: OGC ) was up 4c early to $3.65, NZX (NZX: NZX ) gained 3c to $1.93, and Fletcher Building (NZX: FBU ) added 1c to $8.85, while Telecom (NZX: TEL ) slipped 1c to $2.09.

Contact Energy (NZX: CEN ) lost 9c early to $6.00, Freightways (NZX: FRE ) dropped 10c to $3.18. Steel & Tube (NZX: STU ) lost 3c to $2.62, and Kathmandu (NZX: KMD ) was down 2c to $1.99.

In the US, stocks ended higher after on upbeat profit forecast from Bank of America and a pullback in oil prices. Technicals underscored the market's near-term resilience.

Based on the latest available data, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 1% at 12,214.46, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.9% at 1321.82, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.7% at 2765.77.

NZPA

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