Telecom, Xero shine as stocks surge after European relief

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The New Zealand sharemarket spent the entire afternoon's trading reaching for the sky yesterday as Asian stocks rose and commentators looked to major European share indices to open between 0.6 to 0.7 per cent higher.

Markets greeted the Europe rescue package with relief, despite doubts about the long-term effectiveness of the deal.

The NZX-50 rose 0.81 per cent, or 27.88 points, to 3449.22, similar to Japan's Nikkei index, while Australian shares rose 1 per cent. The NZX-50 lifted 13 points on Thursday.

A total of 39.9 million shares were traded, valued at $103.6 million.

Cornerstone stock Telecom lifted 7.5c (2.88 per cent) to $2.67, its highest level for nearly two years, as nearly 17 million of its shares changed hands.

But online accounting software company Xero led the gainers, up 19c (8.48 per cent) to $2.43, in the wake of a 4.2 per cent rise on Thursday . It has taken over a small Australian online payroll company Paycycle, in a deal worth A$1.5 million ($1.9 million) which is expected to ease its product rollout across the Tasman.

NZX continued its fightback, rising 7c (3 per cent) to $2.40 after apparently throwing off negative implications of controversy over its Clear Grain exchange.

Several transtasman stocks rose, including AMP which lifted 18c (3.04 per cent) to $6.10, while ANZ Bank rose 75c (2.79 per cent) to $27.60, and Westpac lifted 65c (2.43 per cent) $27.35.

Fletcher Building was up 11c to $8.26 after reaching a 5-month low $7.92 at the start of the week.

Ebos Group rose 14c in early trading, but finished the day up 2c (0.29 per cent) at $6.87.

Troubled finance company NZF Group was unchanged at 35c.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare finished down 3c (1.17 per cent) at $2.54.

OceanaGold fell 1c (0.28 per cent) as demand for gold eased.

- NZPA