Fletcher Building, one of the New Zealand's biggest companies claims it is witnessing signs of recovery in the home building market.

"It beat market expectations. I think the result shows the diverse nature of the company now. Even though the steel division had weak earnings other divisions performed quite well", said Mr. Williamson.

The company has reported a 10% fall in half-year profit; the first time it has registered since New Zealand officially succeeded to come out of recession. Although a fall, the profit exceeded expectations.

While Fletcher Building's profit fell 10% in the second half last year to $154 million, the market is cheering indications that towards the end of 2009, conditions began to improve.

Fletchers reported to possess a construction backlog worth $1.1 billion, with 80% of that publicly-funded work.

US stocks posted their biggest daily percentage gain in three months on Tuesday after strong revenue from drug maker Merck and regional manufacturing data instilled confidence in the economic outlook.

"It's really far too early to tell. We'll probably need nine months, 12 months of data to tell if we've really seen a pick-up in construction", says Martin Allison of Craigs Investment Partners.