Wellington, Nov 26 NZPA - Shares in insurance and wealth management company Tower raced ahead after the company reported a 23.8 percent rise in full year net profit to $50.1 million.

Shortly after the sharemarket opened Tower shares were up 13c to 195, a 7 percent rise, taking the price to its highest level in 14 months.

Around 10.15am the benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 10.97 points to 3126.36, having gained 7.8 points yesterday.

Other shares rising early included Fletcher Building, which lifted 5c to 780, Ryman Healthcare was up 2c to 198, Freightways gained 2c to 315, and Fisher & Paykel Appliances was up 2c to 65.

PGG Wrightson lifted 2c to 67, retailer Postie Plus was up 2c to 45, and Kathmandu Holdings gained 2c to 219.

Telecom gained 1c to 245, Contact Energy was unchanged on 600, while dual-listed bank Westpac added 50c to 3100 early and ANZ was up 20c to 2820.

In the United States, stocks rose as economic data reinforced hopes of stabilisation in the labour and housing markets, but volume was light ahead of the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

The Dow Jones industrial average provisionally closed up 0.3 percent to end unofficially at 10,464.40, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.5 percent at 1110.63, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.3 percent at 2176.05.