KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket finished another turbulent week on a positive note.
Gaining confidence from a late surge on Wall Street, the benchmark NZSX-50 index closed 44.08 points, or 1.59 per cent, higher at 2808.76 - reversing three days of losses and leaving the market just three points ahead where
it stood a week ago.
Grant Williamson, of Hamilton Hindin Greene, said after a volatile week the market had not really gained or lost ground, but had frayed the nerves of most investors.
"It was a reasonably good close to the week. There was certainly some interest in some stocks after we saw the Dow rally overnight," he said.
"But investors are still cautious and there's not a lot of turnover in the market."
Bargain hunters helped lift Telecom shares nearly 5 per cent, or 11c to 234, after a dismal week for the market heavyweight, despite shareholder Elliott International today raising concerns about Telecom issuing more stock to fund its new mobile network.
Another stock with a buoyant finish to the week was Pike River Coal, which late in the day reported it had struck coal at its West Coast mine after two years of tunnelling to reach its target of premium-grade hard coking coal.
Mr Williamson said it was massive engineering feat and after a few delays, the company had finally got there.
"That should cheer shareholders up going forward," he said.
Pike River shares gained 7c to 136 and Mr Marshall said there could be further improvement, despite commodity prices falling internationally.
Gloomier news for the market was the announcement from Australia's second largest steelmaker OneSteel that it had terminated its takeover of Steel & Tube Holdings, citing increased market volatility.
OneSteel, which holds a 50.27 per cent interest in Steel & Tube, was offering $4 for every share in the company it doesn't own, valuing the deal at about $175 million.
Steel & Tube shares were unchanged at 360 today.
Among other top 50 stocks, prices were mixed.
Contact Energy, which started the day strongly, finished 7c lower at 706 but Fletcher Building rose 12c to 598.
Others to gain included Sky City 16c to 315, Fisher & Paykel Health 13c to 300, and Pumpkin Patch 9c to 114 while The Warehouse was 30c higher at 387, amid speculation Australia's top grocer Woolworths would proceed with a takeover bid.
Among stocks to lose ground were Fisher & Paykel Appliances, down 1c to 134, Freightways 7c to 313, Mainfreight 13c 536, NZ Oil & Gas 4c to 108 and NZ Refining 15c to 600.
Overall there were 43 rises and 34 falls among the 106 stocks traded at a total value of $91.07.
On Wall St, the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 4.7 per cent to 8979.26, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 4.2 per cent to 946.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 5.5 per cent at 1717.71.
- NZPA