KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand share market finished higher today, which was seen as a good effort in the context of down days on other markets.
Telecom was unchanged at 266 and the volume trading in the stock continues to raise eye brows with nearly 22 million shares traded today.
The NZSX-50 index closed up 4.026 points, or 0.145 per cent, at 2774.144. Turnover was worth $129.7 million. There were 36 rises and 42 falls.
"It was a quiet close to the week with not a lot of movement in share prices," said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton, Hindin Greene.
"The market has done particularly well considering Wall Street and some other offshore markets lost ground."
There was demand underpinning shares after the Official Cash Rate was cut by 150 basis points to 3.5 per cent on Thursday.
Contact Energy's increase of 14c, or 2.08 per cent, to 687 helped the index and the rise was attributed to its status as a defensive stock.
Fletcher Building rose 13c to 565 and that also helped the index.
NZX rose 5c to 550 after rising 62c yesterday when it announced the sale of its TZ1 Registry to Markit Group.
TrustPower rose 2c to 746 and SkyTV rose 7c to 417. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 5c to 338.
Lion Nathan rose 2c to 1027 and SkyCity rose 8c to 310.
Rakon eased 2c to 96. Sanford eased 4c to 536 and NZOG eased 2c to 128.
Tower rose 1c to 165 but AMP eased 7c to 650.
Auckland Airport eased 5c to 182 and Nuplex eased 7c to 288. Fisher & Paykel Appliances eased 3c to 125.
APN, publisher of the NZ Herald, fell 25c, or 9.33 per cent, to 243.
US stocks tumbled on Thursday as poor earnings, coupled with a fresh wave of bleak labour market and housing data, heightened fears of a deep recession.
Government reports showed the number of people filing for unemployment benefits hit a record in mid-January, while orders for long-lasting goods fell for the fifth straight month in December and new home sales slid to a record low.
The Dow Jones industrial average slid 226.44 points, or 2.70 per cent, to 8149.01. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index tumbled 28.95 points, or 3.31 per cent, to 845.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 50.50 points, or 3.24 per cent, to 1507.84.
- NZPA
