NZ sharemarket posts modest gains

The New Zealand sharemarket posted modest gains today as the rally to record levels by the New Zealand dollar stalled and investors assessed news that the Australian economy contracted in the March quarter.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 3.896 points, or 0.11 percent, at 3551.54, having opened down slightly.

Mainfreight shares pushed on after breaking through $10 this week, closing up 5c at 1008.

"They are a real investor favourite at the moment," said Ross Cuthbert at Craigs Investment Partners.

It was a fairly quiet day on the market and some currency sensitive stocks recovered from recent beatings, he said.

Methven rose 3c to 147 and F&P Healthcare 6c to 294. Fisher & Paykel Appliances rose 2c to 64.

"They were starting to look cheap," Mr Cuthbert said.

Goodman Fielder rose 5c to 142 after it named Chris Delaney, formerly Asia-Pacific president for Campbell Soup Company, as chief executive.

Mr Cuthbert said it looked like Mr Delaney had a solid background in the fast-moving goods market, and the stock needed good news after it had languished for six months.

PGG Wrightson rose 2c to 53 after announcing the conditional sale of its 50 percent shareholding in The New Zealand Merino Company to farmer-based Merino Grower Investments Ltd for $7.625 million.

Fletcher Building was unchanged at 893, Telecom rose 1.5c to 243.5, and Contact Energy dropped 10c to 590.

TD Securities said news that the Australian economy contracted 1.2 percent in the March quarter could be spun two ways.

It was "only the fourth quarterly contraction in 20 years" or "the biggest quarterly fall since the 1991 recession" but expectations had been building for a much worse outcome, so overall there was relief at the figure.

Hallenstein Glassons was down 10c at 383, Guinness Peat Group was down 2c at 84 and SkyCity was down 5c at 362. Infratil eased 2c to 186 and NZ Refining eased 5c to 425.

In the US, Wall St bulls took the upper hand with a 1 percent rally as hopes for a new plan to deal with Greece's debt crisis relieved some investor worry, but grim economic data suggested more hurdles ahead.

Data on US Midwestern factory demand and consumer confidence was lacklustre.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 1 percent to 12,569.79, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 1.1 percent to 1345.20, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.4 percent to 2835.30.

For May, the Dow lost 1.9 percent and the Nasdaq fell 1.3 percent. The S&P fell 1.4 percent, its worst month since August, when the US Federal Reserve announced the second round of its quantitative easing programme.