Market closes slightly higher

The New Zealand sharemarket rose today, gaining momentum during the afternoon, even though international markets were mixed.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 22.797 points, or 0.721 per cent, at 3183.859.

Turnover was worth $117 million and it was boosted by $48.8m worth of trading in Lion Nathan. There were 38 rises and 40 falls among the 113 stocks traded.

A 17c rise to 852 by Fletcher Building helped boost the index as did a 4c rise to 580 by Contact Energy.

The market held up pretty well for the first day of a new quarter," said Ross Cuthbert, investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners. He said Fletcher Building was continuing a good run.

Telecom rose 4c to 270 on the day of its annual shareholder meeting in Auckland.

"I don't think they said anything very new at the meeting," Mr Cuthbert said.

NZ Refining rose 38 to 500 but it was on small volume. Mr Cuthbert said the stock may be attracting interest from retail investors because the oil price was up. Also, there is an ongoing issue of ownership among the oil company shareholders. Pyne Gould Corp rights started trading today and closed at 2.5c with 1.585m rights traded. The company is giving shareholders the right to buy six shares for every one held at 40c each. The existing shares closed today at 43, up 0.4c.

Fisher and Paykel Appliances eased a cent to 68 after yesterday confirming a waiver it had expected from bankers.

Port of Tauranga rose 7c to 685 and it has risen from 635 on September 25.

Rakon fell 2c to 123 as it embarks on it share purchase plan to raise $20m.

Xero rose 6c to 140 after saying it has more than 12,000 customers.

Taylors fell 5c to 218 on a day bidder Spotless Group reiterated its 225 bid price was final.

Hellaby fell 5c to 165, Sanford fell 10c to 490, and ANZ Banking Group fell 23c to 2942.

APN rose 9c to 254, Mainfreight rose 17c to 549. Methven rose 3c to 173 and Air NZ rose 2c to 123. Michael Hill rose 1c to 71 and SkyCity rose 7c to 332 and The Warehouse rose 5c to 425.

Japanese stocks were weaker today and the Australian market was lower. US stocks fell on Wednesday US time after a surprising contraction in an index of Midwest business activity, but buying of technology stocks limited losses.

The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago's business barometer unexpectedly fell to 46.1 in September, a level that indicates contraction in the regional economy.

"The Chicago PMI kind of scared people, given how much below expectations it was and that turned the market south," said Owen Fitzpatrick, head of US Equity Group at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management in New York.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 29.92 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 9712.28. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 3.53 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 1057.08. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1.62 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 2122.42.

- NZPA