Strong day on NZ market

The New Zealand sharemarket re-ignited today after global stocks rallied.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 22.203 points, or 0.742 per cent, at 3016.203. Turnover was worth $126.48 million. There were 67 rises and 20 falls among the 115 stocks traded.

Some of the cyclical stocks were stars today. Fletcher Building rose 15c to 718 and Mainfreight rose 17c to 455. Tourism Holdings rose 2c to 51 and Hallenstein Glassons rose 15c to 275.

"I think investors are reading between the lines on some of these announcements," said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton, Hindin, Greene.

Mainfreight told shareholders at its annual meeting on Thursday that volumes had been affected by the economic downturn.

"Though it is difficult trading for them they are doing everything possible to keep their expenses down and they are probably one company that can ride through a downturn pretty comfortably," he said.

Ryman Healthcare, which held its annual meeting today, rose 6c to 175.

"It was all extremely positive and it is a company that just keeps on ticking over very nicely. The market has taken a bit of heart from what these companies are saying," he said.

Briscoes rose 10c to 118 after the retailer reported a 3.7 per cent rise in second quarter sales compared to a year earlier. Comvita rose 3c to 90 on the day it held its annual meeting.

Telecom eased 6c to 278 and NZ Refining eased 15c to 710.

SkyTV eased 3c to 432. APN rose 29c to 234.

Infratil rose 1c to 180 and SkyCity rose 1c to 329.

Lion Nathan rose 9c to 1480 even though the Law Commission yesterday released Alcohol in Our Lives, an issues paper on reforming New Zealand's liquor laws.

Air NZ rose 1c at 110 on a day in which Tourism New Zealand launched a "Great Kiwi Invite" campaign to boost international visitor numbers.

Contact Energy was unchanged at 630.

The Warehouse was up 9c to 399, NZ Oil & Gas added 4c to 162, Freightways was unchanged at 311.

Dual-listed bank ANZ gained 160c to 2360, while Westpac gained 75c to 2740.

The positive day came as Japan's Nikkei average rose 1.8 per cent to hit a 10-month high on Friday, and after European equities closed at their highest in nearly nine months and Britain's top share index ended close to a seven-month high.

In the US, stocks rose as solid corporate profit reports and a drop in the number of Americans on jobless benefits gave investors reasons to buy equities following the S&P 500's two days of losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 0.9 per cent to close at 9154.46, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1.2 per cent to 986.75, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.8 per cent to 1984.30.

- NZPA