Wellington, Sept 11 NZPA - The New Zealand sharemarket rose in early trading, with a surge by shares in The Warehouse after it reported its full year results.

The retailer reported a 15.4 percent fall in full year net profit, but when unusual items were excluded the result was up 5.3 percent. A special dividend of 10c per share was announced.

About 10 minutes after the market opened, shares in The Warehouse were up 24c, or 5.9 percent, to 428.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 12.5 points to 3139.18 around 10.15am, after gaining 10.3 points yesterday.

Among shares to rise early Mainfreight was up 7c to 502, NZX was up 4c to 784, Freightways was up 3c to 320, leading stock Telecom gained 2c to 274, and Fisher & Paykel Appliances was up 2c to 77.

NZ Refining Co shares were down 3c to 492.

In the United States, stocks gained for a fifth straight session, the longest string of gains since November, as a bright outlook from consumer product company Procter & Gamble and a successful Treasury bond auction boosted investors' confidence.

Strong demand for the sale of 30-year Treasury bonds lifted confidence in US assets, including stocks.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.8 percent at 9627.48, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 1 percent at 1044.14, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.2 percent at 2084.02.