Australia stocks up 0.3 percent early

WELLINGTON, Mar 12 (Reuters) - Australian stocks rose 0.3 percent in early trade on Friday, after Wall Street rallied late, and miner Cape Lambert Resources CFE soared on a deal to sell its Lady Annie copper project.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index JO was up 16.2 points at 4,830.4 at 2312 GMT after ending 5.8 points lower on Thursday.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index .NZ50 was up 5.4 points at 3,228.9. (Reporting by Adrian Bathgate;Editing by Narayanan Somasundaram)