The NZX 50 index enjoyed another day of strong gains following triple-digit gains on Wall Street, closing at 28 points up to 3119 on turnover of $37 million.
At 1.10pm, Telecom was up 7 cents to $3.50, Contact Energy was up 3 cents to $7.51 and Fletcher Building was up 12c to $6.50.
Sky City Entertainment was up 3c to $2.99 and PGG Wrightson was up 4c to $2.45.
Rakon dropped 20c to $2.50 after saying it will form a joint venture with the owners of Chinese-based Timemaker Crystal Technology on Thursday.
In currency markets, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 76.27 US cents, 78.50 Australian, 38.19 pence, 81.08 Yen, and 0.4817 euro. The TWI stands at 67.58.
Australia markets lower
The Australian 200 index is down 32 points to 4868.
US stocks had initially provided a strong lead after commercial and investment bank JP Morgan Chase released a lower-than-expected fall in earnings.
But sentiment towards local financials was soured by a wider-than-expected quarterly loss from US investment bank Merrill Lynch, reported after the closing bell.
At noon AEST, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index slid 32.5 points to 4868.5 while the broader All Ordinaries lost 33.4 points to 4943.5.
The September share price index futures contract fell 34 points to 4857 on volume of 11,618 contracts.
US stocks surged for the second straight day on stronger than expected quarterly earnings from JP Morgan Chase and United Technologies.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average leapt 207.38 points or 1.85% to 11,447.
Tokyo losing streak continues
Japan's Nikkei share average finished 0.65% lower, ending its sixth consecutive losing week as concerns grew ahead of quarterly earnings from Citigroup, due later on Friday.
The last time the Nikkei fell six weeks in a row was at the beginning of 2008, when fears about a US recession reached a fever pitch.
