NZPA

Early lift for NZ sharemarket

Friday October 30, 02:00 PM

The New Zealand sharemarket gained strongly in early trading after overnight data indicated the United States may be starting to emerge from the worst recession in 70 years.

Investors piled into US stocks which logged their best one-day percentage gain in three months.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 21.11 points to 3216.73, having closed down 7.2 points yesterday, a far smaller drop than recorded by Asian markets.

Among leading shares Telecom was up 3c early to 262 on top of a 4c gain yesterday, while Fletcher Building lifted 7c to 829 reversing yesterday's 6c loss, and Contact Energy gained 7c to 629.

NZ Refining Co gained 21c to 533, Mainfreight lifted 6c to 538, Trustpower added 5c to 760, Sky TV lifted 5c to 480, Sky City added 5c to 345, Freightways was up 5c to 305, and Pike River Coal was up 3c to 112.

The few stocks to lose ground early included Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which lost 6c to 304, while dual-listed bank ANZ was down 5c to 2870.

The rise in US stocks came after the government's first estimate of US gross domestic product showed the economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter. The quarter of growth was the first after more than a year of contraction in GDP.

Equity gains were widespread, with big manufacturers, technology, financials, energy and the materials sectors all benefiting.

Sentiment was also boosted by stronger-than-expected quarterly results from consumer product heavyweights Procter & Gamble Co and Colgate-Palmolive Co.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 2.1 percent to 9962.58, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 2.3 percent to 1066.11 -- marking its biggest one-day percentage gain in three months, and the Nasdaq Composite Index shot up 1.8 percent to close at 2097.55.

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