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The sharemarket gave up some of its earlier gains as it felt the pressure from a weaker Australian market, but still managed to close up 0.9 per cent.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 24.9 points at 2724.71, having yesterday closed down 6.9 points. Turnover totalled $113 million.
Stock markets rebounded around the world overnight, helped by government plans to counter the global economic crisis and by signs the US was close to providing emergency finance for its carmakers.
However, shares slid in Australia as investors redirected money into Westpac's discounted US$1.7 billion ($3.16 billion) share placement, which the bank will use to shore up its balance sheet.
Westpac's capital placement increased concerns about the state of Australian bank finances.
"That's been a little bit of a drag on the enthusiasm in our index," said David Price of Forsyth Barr.
"That said, we've had a few stocks that have continued on very strong rallies on good volumes."
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 6c, or 2 per cent, at 308 on 7.3 million shares, while fellow blue chip Sky TV gained 8c, also 2 per cent, to 390 on 4.1 million shares.
Top stock Telecom was up a cent at 233, while bolstering the index were 24c rises for Fletcher Building and Contact Energy, at 562 and 695 respectively.
Auckland Airport was 3c higher at 169, F&P Appliances fell a cent to 138, and Sky City was down 2c at 294.
Among the bigger losses, seafood exporter Sanford lost 8c to 542, carpetmaker Cavalier fell 10c to 180, Hallenstein Glasson was down 8c at 222, Ryman fell 6c to 149, and Goodman Property Trust lost 8c to 162.
On the up side, Steel & Tube jumped 13c to 283, Freightways was up 9c at 301, NZ Oil and Gas was up 5c at 127, and NZX gained 5c to 545.
Fast food operator Restaurant Brands rose 2c, or 3.4 per cent, to 61 on an improvement in quarterly sales. Third quarter sales rose 0.8 per cent, as KFC continued to perform strongly and Pizza Hut started to show "initial signs of stabilisation".
Dual-listed stocks were weaker, with ANZ down 57 at 1768, Lion Nathan down 25c at 1025 and AMP down 5c at 640.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 0.7 per cent at 3605, and Japan's Nikkei share average was up 0.8 per cent.
Earlier on Wall Street, President-elect Barack Obama's planned infrastructure spending and the anticipated US carmaker bailout helped boost US stocks by more than 3 per cent.
- NZPA
