KEY POINTS:
There was a welcome reprieve from sharemarket falls for New Zealand investors today, with the NZSX-50 benchmark index up 2.26 per cent.
Markets around the world followed Wall St's lead on Friday after the Federal Reserve cut the discount rate for loans to banks, in an effort to
stabilise credit markets.
After six consecutive falls, the top 50 closed up 88.03 points to 3982.37 on moderate turnover worth $117 million.
The market had drifted during the afternoon but at one point was up 100 points, although most investors expected that the volatility was not over, Grant Williamson, a partner with Hamilton, Hindin, Greene, said.
Sellers had not been so aggressive and bargain hunters were "in control", sniffing out stocks that might have been over-sold.
He put Fisher & Paykel Appliances in that category, up 12c today to 348 after some positive comments from its annual meeting.
F&P Healthcare appeared to benefit from the falling currency, up 8c to 353, Hallenstein Glasson was up 14c to 445, and Skellerup was up 5c to 97c after Friday's result.
Among the leaders, Telecom bounced 7c to 416, Contact rose 36c to 899, and Fletcher Building gained 19c to 1134.
Auckland Airport was up strongly, by 13c to 315, and Sky TV was up 19c to 550 after a well-received result on Friday.
Sky City fell 4c to 416 after an initial bounce as the company reported an 18 per cent fall in net profit but forecast a modest 10-12 per cent increase next year.
"I think investors were hoping for more," Mr Williamson said.
"Sky City for the last couple of years has been in decline somewhat and they really were expecting a bigger improvement in the bottom line forecast for next year."
Dual-listed banks rode a positive day on the Australian sharemarket: ANZ up 60c to 3260, Westpac up 95c to 3020, AMP up 55c to 1115.
The few falls included BIL down 8c to 140 and Michael Hill down 10c to 970.
Vending technologies company VTL was suspended after telling the stock exchange it was insolvent following the collapse of its finance arm, Nathans.
Rises outnumbered falls 85 to 30 on 144 stocks traded.
All eyes would be on Wall St again tonight, Mr Williamson said.
Australia's sharemarket jumped 4.6 per cent, the biggest one-day percentage rise, responding to Wall St's rise on Friday night, when the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 1.82 per cent or 233.30 points, to 13,079.08.
- NZPA