Wellington, Oct 6 NZPA - The New Zealand sharemarket followed the overnight lead of offshore markets, opening firmly today.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index, which shed 10.137 points yesterday, rose 14.30 points or 0.46 percent to 3153.02 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

The three market heavyweights all moved higher -- Telecom 2c to 263, Contact Energy 6c to 586 and Fletcher Building 4c to 837.

The Warehouse gained 3c to 428 and stocks to rise 2c included Auckland Airport to 194, Fisher and Paykel Appliances to 67, Restaurant Brands to 124, Infratil to 169, Ryman Healthcare to 182 and Sky TV to 475.

US healthcare reforms, with possible taxes on medical devices, continued to weigh on Fisher and Paykel Healthcare's stock, with it slipping 4c to 316.

NZ Farming Systems was among a few other top 50 stocks to lose ground, easing 1c to 45.

European shares edged higher overnight and on Wall Street shares rebounded after four straight days of losses, helped by a key brokerage upgrade of the banking sector and the first signs of growth in the services sector in a year.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 112.08 points, or 1.18 percent, to 9599.75. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 20.04 points, 0.98 percent, to 2068.15 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 15.25 points, 1.49 percent, to 1040.46.