The New Zealand sharemarket was mildly positive today ahead of results from Steel&Tube on Thursday and Telecom on Friday.News of strong earnings from the world's biggest miner BHP Billiton and ASB's parent Commonwealth Bank helped the Australian marke
The New Zealand sharemarket was mildly positive today ahead of results from Steel&Tube on Thursday and Telecom on Friday.
News of strong earnings from the world's biggest miner BHP Billiton and ASB's parent Commonwealth Bank helped the Australian market but it struggled to maintain gains.
Generally, financial markets were buoyed by speculation European countries will bail out Greece.
The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 9.056 points, or 0.3%, at 3085.507.
Turnover was worth $157 million and was boosted by large volume in Fletcher Building. There were 58 rises and 27 falls among the 115 stocks traded.
Postie Plus rose 1c to 40c after the retailer reported a 9.25% rise in sales in the six months to January 31 from a year ago. Pumpkin Patch rose 3c to $1.93.
Property trusts were weak after the government left property investors up in the air by not spelling out exact changes in an outline of taxation policy yesterday.
AMP Office Trust fell 2c to 74c, Kiwi Income Property Trust fell 2c to $1.02, ING Property Trust fell 1c to 77c and Property for Industry fell 1c to $1.13.
Among the leaders, Telecom was up 1c to $2.29, Fletcher Building was up 9c to $7.55 and Contact Energy was unchanged at $5.80.
Telecom is expected to report a profit of $60-90 million for the December quarter on Friday.
Pike River Coal rose 2c to 90c at a time when the government is positive about mining. NZOG rose 2c to $1.50. OceanaGold rose 12c to $2.67.
Tower rose 3c to $1.97 a day after its annual meeting. NZ Refining rose 5c to $3.60 and Fisher&Paykel Appliances rose 2c to 63c.
Tourism Holdings rose 4c to 90c. Nuplex rose 8c to $3.23 and NZ Farming Systems Uruguay rose 1c to 4c2.
Auckland Airport was unchanged at $1.87 on a day in which it disclosed it won an airport of the year award.
Mainfreight rose 13c to $5.88, Air NZ rose 4c to $1.32 and Ebos rose 7c to $6.05.
In the US, the Dow posted its largest one-day percentage gain in three months on Tuesday, boosted by the reports of help for Greece.
"There's a relief that something can be worked out to prevent a collapse of their bond market," said Ben Halliburton, chief investment officer at Tradition Capital Management in Summit, New Jersey.
"The question is, will the other countries be willing to step in?"
Gains on Wall Street were broad-based, but shares of commodity-related companies shot higher as a decline in the dollar lifted prices of oil and gold.
