Telecom rises from record low, market gains

Telecom shares rose 2.7 per cent in a New Zealand sharemarket that posted a 0.245 per cent gain as equity markets around the world found some composure at least for now.

The local market fell 1.9 per cent yesterday, taking its losses since its most recent high in mid-April to more than 10 per cent.

Today, the benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 7.361 points at 3011.187, having opened up 22.1 points. Turnover was worth $144.5 million, of which $31m was in Telecom shares. There were 47 rises and 37 falls among the 113 stocks traded.

"The Dow had a very good run right at the end, so that gave the New Zealand market a bit of a leg up and when the aussie market opened it was charging along as well," Stuart Hardie, adviser at Craigs Investment Partners, said.

Telecom closed up 5c at 190 and traded as high as 195 today after reaching a new record low of 185 yesterday.

"I'm not convinced there is massive buying support for Telecom at the moment. There is still a lot to play out there," Mr Hardie said.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 15c to 325 after reporting a 15 per cent rise in annual profit. Mr Hardie said the outlook statements were cautious and many companies did not want to over promise in the current market.

F& P Appliances fell 2c to 56.

Sanford rose 1c to 446 and as the market closed it reported a fall in interim profit but maintained its dividend.

Contact Energy fell 6c to 586 and TrustPower rose 1c to 720. SkyCity fell 2c to 291 and SkyTV fell 3c to 455.

Fletcher Building rose 10c to 771 and Air NZ rose 1c to 120. Hallenstein Glassons rose 8c to 340 and Methven rose 3c to 158. Hellaby rose 2c to 158 and Restaurant Brands rose 2c to 223.

Rakon rose 1c to 98 and Steel & Tube rose 3c to 253. NZX rose 10c to 165.

Dual-listed bank ANZ was up 72c to 2692, while Westpac added 15c to 2765.

Allied Farmers fell 0.3c to 6.2, Pyne Gould Corp rose 1c to 44 and PGG Wrightson rose 2c to 55.

APN News fell 4c to 266 and Abano Healthcare fell 14c to 506.

The rally in the US came after major US indexes fell more than 3 per cent early in the session on growing questions about the stability of the European banking system after a small Spanish bank failed over the weekend.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 0.2 per cent at 10,043.75, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained just 0.04 per cent to end at 1074.03, and the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.1 per cent to 2210.95.

- NZPA