NZ shares: Rally follows better night on Wall Street

12.00pm

New Zealand shares were given a shot in the arm this morning by a better night on Wall St.

The benchmark NZSE-40 capital index rallied 26.09 points, or 1.22 per cent, to 2164.39 by 11am -- carrying on from yesterday's strong finish.

Turnover was moderate at 13 million shares worth $25 million.

Rises outnumbered falls by 36 to 15 among the 98 stocks traded, with market heavyweights Telecom, Carter Holt Harvey, Fletcher Building and Auckland International Airport leading the field.

"It's all green ink," Macquarie Equities dealer David Cleal said.

Telecom spiked 10c to 535 after its ADRs (American Depositary Receipts) -- traded on the New York Stock Exchange -- bounced 9c to 534 overnight.

Carter Holt Harvey added 3c to 212 -- just shy of its year high of 213 -- and Fletcher Building jumped 4c to 288 as investors finally began to factor in last week's bullish profit forecast from the company.

Auckland International Airport was 6c higher at 460.

"Bids at Sydney Airport are up at the higher end of the scale and that's probably going to flow through to the valuation -- or the market's perception of the value -- of Auckland Airport," Mr Cleal said.

In other moves, Baycorp Advantage rose 16c to 386, Sky City rose 6c to 645, Sky TV was 7c higher at 457, Air New Zealand added 3c to 68c, Contact Energy rose 2c to 416, Fisher and Paykel Appliances added 3c to 950, sister stock F&P Healthcare rose 5c to 870 and The Warehouse leapt 19c to 790 -- an all time high.

On the flipside, Pacific Retail lost 5c to 310, Vending Technologies fell 10c to 220 and Wellington Drive Technologies dropped 2c to 28c.

Fletcher Forests was steady at 26c after announcing yesterday it has conditionally agreed to repurchase the Central North Island Forestry Partnership (CNI) from receivers Ferrier Hodgson for US$650 million ($1.35 billion).

Major shareholder Rubicon was a cent higher at 69c.

In the United States stocks jumped on Monday as Wall Street cheered a bright forecast from fast-food giant McDonald's Corp and took advantage of recent declines to snap up shares at bargain prices.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 213.21 points, or 2.25 per cent, at 9687.42, according to the latest data. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 28.90 points, or 2.87 per cent, at 1036.17.

The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was up 48.55 points, or 3.23 per cent, at 1553.29, giving the index its best one-day gain since May 14, when it rose by 4 per cent.

- NZPA