NZ stocks: Rising offshore markets boost NZ market

The New Zealand sharemarket benefited this morning from hefty rises in offshore markets overnight.

By late morning the benchmark NZSX-50 gross index was up 0.21 per cent, or 4.71 points, at 2277.23, while the top-40 was up 0.24 per cent at 2180.16.

Several million Telecom shares traded before the market opened, and the telco still topped turnover by late morning with 4.73 million shares worth $24.23 million.

Market turnover of 14.66 million was valued at $46.85 million.

On Wall St the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 45.31 points, or 2.54 per cent, to 1832.25 after losing more than 2 per cent on Tuesday.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average jumped 194.14 points, or 2.09 per cent, to 9469.20 after sinking more than 1 per cent a day earlier, and the broad Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 22.24 points, or 2.23 per cent, to 1018.21.

In London the FTSE-100 share index closed up 77.9 points, or 1.9 per cent, at the day's peak of 4169.2.

The news was mixed for the top three New Zealand stocks with market leader Telecom down 3c at 507, Carter Holt Harvey up 3c at 174, and Fletcher Building up 3c at 430.

Grant Williamson of Hamilton Hindin Greene said the rises offshore had flowed through to most New Zealand stocks.

"The market seems to be concentrating on the solid second-line stocks, I think the market believes they're offering the best area of growth at the moment.

"Also, any stocks connected with the building sector are performing quite well," he said.

The Warehouse reached a five-month high today of 559, up 4c, following Statistics New Zealand data yesterday showing average incomes continued to rise.

Continued interest in Freightways, which listed on Monday, boosted the courier company up 2c to 180, its highest level so far.

"That continues to perform well ... I think it still offers value at anything under 200, purely on a dividend yield basis and the history of its growth," Mr Williamson said.

Auckland International Airport was up 1c at 658, Tower was up 1c at 135, Telstra lifted 3c to 541, NGC gained 5c to 165, Fisher & Paykel Appliances was up 10c at 1450, AMP lifted 10c to 785, and Baycorp Advantage was up 10c at 263.

Powerco rose 2c to 184, Promina gained 8c to 365, Tranz Rail was up 1c at 108, and motor-maker Wellington Drive was up 5c at 66.

Among the retailers, Briscoe Group rose 2c to 188, newly listed Postie Plus was up 1c at 117, and Pacific Retail Group was unchanged at 257.

BIL International fell 1c to 71, F&P Healthcare lost 10c to 1260, Hirequip was down 1c at 84, and Waste Management lost 2c to 374.

"Overall there's a firm tone to the market, reasonably quiet trading, and we're just waiting to see how Australia reacts to the overseas rally last night," Mr Williamson said.

There were 43 rises and 16 falls on the 108 stocks traded.

- NZPA