The New Zealand sharemarket rose for a fifth consecutive day as financial markets around the world were jolted to life after US stocks logged their best one-day gain in about six weeks.The rise in US equities came after a bullish forecast from financial c
The New Zealand sharemarket rose for a fifth consecutive day as financial markets around the world were jolted to life after US stocks logged their best one-day gain in about six weeks.
The rise in US equities came after a bullish forecast from financial company State Street fuelled optimism about the coming earnings season.
The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 22.196 points, or 0.7%, at 2983.933, having obtained that level in opening trade after the Wall Street surge.
Turnover was worth $64.8 million. There were 49 rises and 22 falls among the 104 stocks traded.
The Australian market was up around 2.3% as the New Zealand market closed, with strong labour market data an added positive factor in that market.
"While it will take more than one solid session to confirm a turnaround in sentiment, there is definitely a growing chorus of traders and investors suggesting global indexes are oversold," said Ben Potter, market strategist at IG Markets.
The Australian banks and AMP were among the strongest performers, with ANZ rising 176 to 2756, Westpac rising 130 to 2715 and AMP rising 20c to 640.
Auckland Airport was unchanged at 193 after announcing plans to buy a quarter of Queenstown Airport for $27.7 million.
S&P said it would increase the airport's exposure to the leisure market and may put negative pressure on its rating long term.
Investment company Hellaby Holdings was up 10c to 170 early, on top of an 8c gain made yesterday after the company said its core debt has fallen 51% and it would either redeem in cash or roll over maturing notes, meaning shareholders will not be diluted.
Fletcher Building lifted 8c early to 775, Cavalier Corp was up 7c to 240, Contact Energy gained 2c to 586, Sky City was up 2c to 290, Freightways up 5c to 267, and Telecom up 1c to 187.
Nuplex lifted 8c to 295, having ended up 2c yesterday during a day when it hit down speculation of a merger of business units with Orica.
NZ Refining eased 8c to 300, Goodman Fielder eased 2c to 162 and Ebos eased 5c to 610.
Coal Seam gas company LME Energy rose 1.5c to 13.5 after saying tests indicate that the Morley formation coals at Ohai contain gas contents of up to 11m3 per tonne of coal and the coals are fully saturated with gas.
