The New Zealand sharemarket recovered well today from a sharp fall on Thursday as demand returned for leading shares.The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 34.847 points, or 1.1%, at 3212.937, after yesterday's 48.8-point fall."It was a pretty big roun
The New Zealand sharemarket recovered well today from a sharp fall on Thursday as demand returned for leading shares.
The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 34.847 points, or 1.1%, at 3212.937, after yesterday's 48.8-point fall.
"It was a pretty big round of profit-taking yesterday but we've managed to bounce back pretty strongly," said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton Hindin Greene.
After a reasonable fall yesterday Fletcher Building rose 10c to 816 and Telecom rose 2c to 204.
All the leaders were trading higher, Mr Williamson said.
Contact Energy rose 4c to 570.
Tower rose 4c to 187 after saying it will launch an unsolicited $118 million cash and scrip takeover offer for Fidelity Life Assurance.
"The market obviously likes the story. Tower had mentioned previously that it was looking for acquisitions," Mr Williamson said.
Another standout was AMP Office Trust, which rose 4c to 78. Goodman Property rose 2c to 97 and property for Industry rose 1c to 116.
Infratil rose 3c to 181 and Port of Tauranga rose 11c to 701. Lyttelton Port of Christchurch called off merger talks with Port Otago today but the tightly held stock did not trade.
On the day the goods and services tax was hiked to 15%, retailers performed fairly well. The Warehouse rose 5c to 383, Michael Hill was unchanged at 67, Briscoe Group rose 2c to 134 and Pumpkin Patch rose 1c to 193.
Air NZ rose 1c to 128 after Moody's Investors Service hiked the airline's credit rating a notch.
NZ Refining Co was up 11c to 379 and Steel&Tube gained 4c to 249.
Kiwifruit company Satara Cooperative was up 15c to 100 after announcing plans, after the market closed yesterday, to merge with EastPack.
