The New Zealand sharemarket continued to make gains this morning, although not nearly as strongly as earlier in the week.Following yesterday's 2.2 percent rise, the NZX-50 benchmark index opened today at 3111.06 and improved 2.45 points, or 0.08 percent,
The New Zealand sharemarket continued to make gains this morning, although not nearly as strongly as earlier in the week.
Following yesterday's 2.2 percent rise, the NZX-50 benchmark index opened today at 3111.06 and improved 2.45 points, or 0.08 percent, to 3113.512 at 10.20am.
Quartz crystal maker Rakon, which had seen its shares lose 23c since the beginning of the month, regained 5c this morning to 96, after it told the market it knew of no reason for the drop.
Fletcher Building continued to rise, up 6c to 802 this morning, and Sky TV gained 1c to 468
Michael Hill International, which reported a 66 percent drop in half year profits on last year's tax inflated result, was up 4c to 73, Goodman Fielder gained 1c to 203 and Mainfreight improved 10c to 590
Telecom was unchanged at 234, as was The Warehouse at 375.
Stocks losing ground were Guinness Peat Group, down 1c to 83, Air NZ 1c to 133 and Tower 1c to 190.
Yesterday the Australian sharemarket closed strongly higher on the back of a broad rally generated by earnings reports, stronger commodities prices and a positive lead from US and Asian markets.
The benchmark S&P ASX200 index lifted 100.1 points, or 2.19 per cent, to 4,667.9 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index rose 96.0 points, or 2.09 per cent, to 4,686.8 points.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei average surged 2.7 percent yesterday, chalking up its biggest daily rise in over two months, as investors snapped up Mitsubishi Corp and other resource-related stocks after a jump in commodities prices.
In the US stocks posted modest gains in choppy trade on Wednesday as investors weighed economic data that was better than expected and minutes of the last Federal Reserve rate-setting meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 40.43 points, or 0.30 percent, to 10,309.24, a day after posting triple-digit gains.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index added 12.10 points, or 0.55 percent, at 2226.29 and the broad-market Standard&Poor's 500 index climbed 4.63 points, or 0.42 percent, to 1099.50.
The volatile trading came after Wall Street stocks ended Tuesday in their best one-day advance in three months on renewed economic optimism that pushed the Dow up 1.68 per cent.
