KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket bucked the region's negative trend today, pushed higher by large gains among mid-cap stocks.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index ended the week up 1.3 per cent, or 42.95 points, at 3447.5, on turnover totalling $115.4 million.
"We certainly thrashed Australia and (are) so far ahead of a
lot of the Asian markets ... a very good day and good returns from most of the leaders," said Stephen Wright of ASB Securities.
"Some of the economic data was better than expected, although 2008 is going to see some lower GDP figures. The economic data, allied with recent results and dividend increases in many cases, has been enough to give a bit of comfort to our market," he said.
December quarter gross domestic product figures showed the economy ended 2007 strongly, but the 1 per cent surge, taking the annual growth rate to 3.1 per cent, was expected to be the last hurrah for some time.
Big gainers today were Mainfreight, up 5.9 per cent or 33c to 595 on light turnover, and Guinness Peat Group, up 8.8 per cent or 13c to 160 on healthy turnover after making presentations to brokers.
Among the top three, Telecom rose 5c to 383, Fletcher Building reversed earlier weakness and gained a cent to 835, and Contact Energy lost 2c to 798.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare lost 2c to 280, F&P Appliances rose 3c to 233, Sky City jumped 9c to 357, and Sky TV was up 11c at 484.
Vector fell 1.7 per cent, or 3c, to a record low of 175 ahead of its exit from the top-10 index on Tuesday, despite going ex-dividend that day.
Its replacement, Infratil, was up 4c at 217, lifting above recent year-lows.
Mid-caps to bounce included NZX, up 19c at 720, Pumpkin Patch, up 5c at 193, Rakon, 17c higher at 267, Steel & Tube, up 18c at 303, and Freightways, up 22c at 339.
Sanford rose 15c to 395, Air NZ was up a cent at 131, Tourism Holdings was up 5c at 175, and Hallenstein Glasson rose 5c to 365.
Small-cap retailer Postie Plus was unchanged at a record low of 50c after announcing a first half loss of $2.9 million, slightly larger than expected, and no dividend payout.
The Warehouse was down a cent at 585, TrustPower lost 15c to 734, investment company Hellaby was down 3c at 182, and jeweller Michael Hill lost 2c to 87.
Dual-listed stocks were mixed, with ANZ down 80c at 2650, Westpac off 61c at 2725, and Lion Nathan flat at 1005.
Australia's benchmark index was down 0.7 per cent at 5336, while Japan's Nikkei share average was up 2 per cent.
US stocks ended lower as nervousness about further write-downs knocked down financial shares and weaker-than-expected revenue from Oracle Corp fuelled concerns about tech sector spending.
- NZPA
