The New Zealand sharemarket rose yesterday when many other markets were weak and a large volume was traded in the shares of New Zealand Oil & Gas, the 29 per cent shareholder of Pike River Coal Ltd.

New Zealand Oil & Gas has shed as much as a third of its market value when the shares resumed trading this afternoon after being halted for the Pike River Coal mine explosion.

Pike River Coal says work on evaluating the impact on its West Coast mine of Friday's explosion is "down the line", as it focuses for now on finding the 29 men unaccounted for.

Women losing the gains of workplace equality...