NZ stocks: Market firms up, in quiet session

The sharemarket's headline index rose slightly today in a fairly quiet session.

ABN Amro Craigs broker Matt Willis said he expected the market to continue treading water "until we get a feel for how good or bad earnings season is going to be".

"I think the consensus will be that we've got slightly ahead of ourselves based on a bit of a liquidity squeeze," he told NZPA.

He said underlying earnings now need to justify the level of the market's key index "and the jury's out on whether that's going to happen".

The NZSX-50 gross index was up 12.84 points, or 0.38 per cent higher at 3329.07 at 5pm this evening, while the NZSX all capital was up 4.25 points to 1043.47.

- NZPA