KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket recovered almost all of yesterday's losses, buoyed by bargain hunters stepping in after markets steadied offshore.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index, which yesterday plunged 69 points, closed up 63.5 points, or 2 per cent, to 3157.9. Turnover totalled just $77.5 million.
"It's been a good finish to
a pretty bad week," said Grant Williamson of Hamilton Hindin Greene.
"We're not seeing the aggressive foreign sellers in the market today. They're the ones that really have been putting tremendous pressure on the downside, and with them out of the way we are getting a reasonable bounce in stocks."
Following such volatile trading this week, next week would be interesting, he said.
"There will still be pressure on these markets, and investors will remain very cautious. Of course, with the US market closed (on Friday) we won't get much reaction on Monday when our market opens."
Bargain hunters helped Telecom recover from 15-year lows to close up 13c at 341, Fletcher Building was up 21c at 642, Sky City jumped 14c to 315, and Sky TV gained 18c to 425.
Contact Energy rose 9c to 780, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare gained 6c to 231, F&P Appliances was down a cent at 188, and Infratil was up 6c at 183.
Outside the top-10, The Warehouse recovered 23c to 400, Mainfreight gained 15c to 640, Hallenstein Glasson was up 6c at 256, NZ Oil and Gas rose 5c to 174, and Tower was up 6c at 198.
Pumpkin Patch rose 8c to 148. Kathmandu founder Jan Cameron, one of the country's richest women, has become a substantial shareholder with a 6.3 per cent stake. Ms Cameron also has 14 per cent of fellow retailer Postie Plus, whose shares were steady at 44c.
On the down side, Air New Zealand fell 3c to 109, Nuplex lost 5c to 490, Rakon fell 6c to 277, NZ Farming Systems Uruguay was down 2c at 180, and Kiwi Income Property Trust fell a cent to 117.
Dual-listed stocks recovered strongly, with ANZ up 106 at 2420, Westpac up 100 at 2550, Lion Nathan 27c higher at 1080, and AMP up 25c at 840.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 1.5 per cent at 5070, and Japan's Nikkei share average fell 0.5 per cent.
In a holiday-shortened session on Wall Street, the blue chip Dow rose a day after entering a bear market on relief that employment data was not as weak as feared and as another record oil price boosted energy shares.
However, the S&P 500 index was little changed and the Nasdaq composite index fell after graphics chip maker Nvidia slashed its outlook.
- NZPA