KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket started the week strongly, after Saturday's election produced a clear cut result for a National-led government.
But brokers said a strong performance by the United States market in the face of bleak jobs data and a rally in Asian markets on the back of a giant Chinese economic stimulus package were also prominent factors.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 46.203 points, or 1.655 per cent, at 2837.849. Volume continues to be light. Shares worth $44.85 million traded.
A 15c rise in Telecom to 241 helped the index higher.
Nigel Scott of ABN Amro Craigs said the market was continuing to bounce but investors were unloading stock on rallies.
"No one wants to push the envelope too far," he said. It was after all a Monday.
The market was getting better at anticipating bad news, intra-day prices were volatile and volume was generally light.
The Chinese stimulus package was welcomed by investors.
"As the private sector shrinks the public sector is spending," he said.
A rally in resource stocks led a rise in the Australian market but a A$3 billion ($3.47 billion) capital raising by National Australia Bank was a reminder of the pressures on the finance sector.
Fletcher Building was up 8c to 576 on hopes it will benefit from infrastructure spending.
Contact Energy was unchanged at 741.
Renaissance eased 2c to 45 on the back of a profit warning.
Hallenstein Glasson was up 4c to 233, NZ Oil & Gas eased a cent to 128 and Pike River Coal eased 2c to 113.
Sky City was up 7c to 319 and Tourism Holdings was unchanged at 90.
Mainfreight rose 6c to 521. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 9c to 308 and Sanford rose 7c to 562.
Infratil rose 3c to 186 and Nuplex rose 10c to 530. Ebos rose 11c to 435. Goodman Fielder rose 11c to 191.
In the US, stocks rose on Friday as bargain hunters scooped up shares at multi-year lows after a big drop in the October payrolls was less dire than feared.
For the week, though, the indices closed lower after an extremely volatile run.
The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 2.9 per cent to 8943.81 on Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index advanced 2.9 per cent to 930.99. The Nasdaq Composite Index shot up 2.4 per cent to 1647.40.
- NZPA
