NZ sharemarket jumps, then fades to finish up 3 points
The New Zealand sharemarket surged upwards in its first two hours today, gaining 30 points early, but stock prices faded through the afternoon.
The New Zealand sharemarket surged upwards in its first two hours today, gaining 30 points early, but stock prices faded through the afternoon.
The New Zealand sharemarket surged upwards in its first two hours today, gaining 30 points early, but stock prices faded through the afternoon.
Just before the close the benchmark NZX-50 was facing its eighth fall in nine trading days, but a tiny uptick at the eleventh hour meant it finished up 0.085 percent on yesterday.
The NZX-50 closed at 3441.006 points, up 2.924 points on yesterday, when it lost 17.5 points.
There were 46 rises and 36 falls among the 116 stocks traded. The volume of 34.2 million shares was worth $105.9m.
Cavalier Corp was up 10c in early trade, but then fell, like the wider market, and finished down 5c at 385, though on a volume of only 33,000 shares.
Mainfreight gained 2c to 1023, and Freightway lifted 7c to 325.
Fletcher Building fell 12c to 852 as over 1.1 million shares changed hands, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 5c during the morning, but finished level at 270.
Sky TV fell 2c to 560, Sky City gained 4c to 361, Contact Energy was up 3c to 538, and cornerstone stock Telecom fell 3c to 242.5c.
Among stocks slipping early, Ebos Group lost 5c, but finished down only 1c at 704 on thin trading of 13,000 shares. A similar volume of Scott Technology left the stock down 5c to 140, and Nuplex lost 8c to 294.
Across the Tasman, the ASX200 benchmark index similarly rose over 20 points during the morning only to run out of puff and pare those gains after concerns about local banks' reliance on foreign investment.
At the market close, the ASX200 was up 0.28 per cent to 4474.3 points, while the broader All Ordinaries Index had edged up 0.20 per cent to 4523.2 points.
In the United States, stocks rose from three days of losses, led by banks after news of more favourable capital requirements and optimism over Greece's austerity plan, but investors cautioned against high hopes.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.9 percent to 12,043.56, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.9 percent to 1280.10, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 1.3 percent to 2688.28.
Jim Awad, managing director at Zephyr Management in New York, said the market was becoming overly optimistic.
"The rally is meaningless and suspect based on premature hopes about Greece," he said. "It seems certain the Greek situation over time is likely to get worse rather than better."