NZ sharemarket closes higher

The New Zealand sharemarket closed higher but off its best levels as investors applauded SkyCity's result and continued to punish NZ Refining for disappointing them.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 9.464, or 0.308 per cent, at 3081.046, having been up around 22 points in early trading.

Turnover was worth $269.67 million, of which $180m related to the reporting of a Goodman Property Trust deal. There were 54 rises and 24 falls among the 109 stocks traded.

"There was a nice bounce back first thing this morning on the back of the offshore markets firming," said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton, Hindin, Greene.

"But we've pretty much given away most of our gains as the afternoon has worn on," he said.

SkyCity rose 10c to 340 after reporting a 13 per cent rise in normalised annual net profit. Mr Williamson said it was a well-signalled result but investors like the growth goal in 2010.

"The market certainly likes the story," he said.

NZ Refining fell 95c, 14.62 per cent, to 555, adding to yesterday's 40c fall on a disappointing profit result and suspension of dividend payment.

"NZ Refining was a real shocker. I don't think people realised how much refining margins had dropped away," Mr Williamson said. The stock was cut to sell by some analysts today.

Goodman Property Trust was down 6c to 97 after shareholder Goodman Group reduced its stake from 28 per cent to 17 per cent by selling units to institutions at 95.

National Property Trust rose 2c to 45 after selling two buildings. "That will reduce their debt to acceptable levels," Mr Williamson said.

Tomorrow is a big day for earnings with Mainfreight, Ebos, Port of Tauranga and AMP reporting.

Nuplex rose 10c to 225 and Telecom rose 1c to 270. TrustPower rose 1c to 766 and Fletcher Building was unchanged at 780.

Port of Tauranga was unchanged at 655 as was Infratil on 177.

Lion Nathan fell 10c to 1440. Sanford fell 9c to 510, Contact fell 3c to 625 and NZX fell 6c to 769.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare rose 7c to 334 and Ryman rose 5c to 192. AMP rose 15c to 730.

Freightways rose 4c to 314 and The Warehouse rose 5c to 411 and Ebos rose 10c to 560.

SkyTV rose 6c to 465. Air NZ rose 1c to 129 on a day rival Qantas reported an 88 per cent decline in profit. Fisher and Paykel Appliances rose 1c to 80.

In the United States stocks rose, rebounding after sharp losses in the previous session, as better-than-expected results from big retailers encouraged investors to get back into the market.

Results at consumer giants Home Depot Inc, Target Corp and upscale department store operator Saks Inc were helped by cost-cutting as revenue growth remained slack.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.9 per cent at 9217.94, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1 per cent at 989.67, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.3 per cent at 1955.92.

- NZPA