OceanaGold early highlight for NZX

Monday 2nd May 2011

OceanaGold Corp was the early highlight for the new week on the New Zealand sharemarket, gaining 2.2% early after gold prices surged to a record high at the end of last week.

Gold prices rose for three days in a row, fuelled by a buying frenzy based on the outlook for low United States interest rates that propelled bullion to its seventh consecutive weekly rise, its longest winning streak since 2007. The metal notched up a 9% monthly gain, its strongest since November.

Gold reached an all time high US$1,569.30 an ounce in the overnight Friday session as data showed US consumer spending rose for a ninth straight month in March with inflation at its highest in nearly a year.

In early trading today in this country, OceanaGold (NZX: OGC ) shares were up 8c to $3.68. It was the only early gain of note, with other rises including Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (NZX: FPH ) up 2c to $3.11, and The Warehouse (NZX: WHS ) up 2c to $3.67.

Shares falling early included Steel & Tube (NZX: STU ), down 7c to $2.63, Xero (NZX: XRO ) down 5c to $2.50, Sky City (NZX: SKC ) down 3c to $3.53.

Among leading shares Contact Energy (NZX: CEN ) edged up 1c to $5.96, Telecom (NZX: TEL ) slipped 1c to $2.16.5, and Fletcher Building (NZX: FBU ) was unchanged on $9.19.

Around 9.25am the benchmark NZX-50 index was down 3.95 points to 3515.37, having gained 15.6 points on Friday when it reached its highest intraday level in nearly three years near 3520.

In the US, stocks rose on Friday on strength from Caterpillar and other industrials, lifting the Dow and Nasdaq to their best monthly performance since December.

"Now that earnings are coming in, the investment community is telling you that once some of these negative issues subside - sovereign debt, Middle Eastern tensions - this market is going to rip," said Jason Weisberg, managing director at Seaport Securities Corp.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.4% to 12,810.54, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.2% to 1363.61, and the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.04% to 2873.54.

For the week, the Dow rose 2.4%, the S&P 500 gained 2% and the Nasdaq advanced 1.9%. The blue-chip Dow average climbed 4% for the month while the S&P 500 rose 2.8% and the Nasdaq gained 3.3%.

NZPA

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