NZ stocks: Market climbs 1pc

The New Zealand sharemarket closed more than 1 per cent higher today as it returned to work after the Easter break.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 28.67 points, or 1.1 per cent, at 2599.82, following a mere 2-point rise when it closed for the four-day holiday on Thursday.

Turnover was a moderate $104.6 million.

"Consolidating quite nicely. It's in-between corporate results," said Stephen Wright of ASB Securities said of the market.

Top stock Telecom rose a cent to 237 despite signs of increased competition in the fixed-line telecoms market, according to a Commerce Commission report released today.

Other blue chips were mixed. Contact Energy lost 13c to 562, Auckland Airport fell 3c to 163 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 3c at 290.

On the rise, Fletcher Building was up 32c at 652, Sky City gained 6c to 281, F&P Appliances rose 3c to 44, Infratil was up 3c at 151 and Sky TV rose 5c to 395.

Discount retailer The Warehouse jumped 8c to 341 after data was released showing a small increase in February retail sales, as opposed to the small decline expected by the market.

Among the handful of top-50 stocks to fall, Steel & Tube was down 6c at 260, Methven lost 5c to 115, Pike River Coal fell a cent to 74 and NZ Farming Systems Uruguay was down a cent at 66.

Posting sizeable gains were NZX, up 30c at 700, Port of Tauranga, up 10c at 525, Mainfreight, 20c higher at 420, Ebos, up 10c at 475, and ING Property, up 4c at 59.

Rural services and finance company Allied Finance was untraded after announcing a $7.5m capital raising from shareholders, having last traded at 65 on Thursday.

With the Australian S&P/ASX 200 Index up 2.7 per cent, dual-listed stocks were generally higher with the exception of Lion Nathan, down 7c at 973.

ANZ Bank gained 130c to 2120, Westpac rose 145c to 2545, AMP was up 30c at 650 and Telstra rose 3c to 398.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose on hopes that major banks would post positive quarterly results, despite uneasiness about the fate of General Motors.

The Dow, however, slipped after Boeing said cuts in output of wide-body planes and lower aircraft prices would hurt first-quarter profit, sparking caution about the economy's health and the corporate earnings season just getting under way.

- NZPA