The New Zealand sharemarket made a small early gain after the Reserve Bank lifted the official cash rate 25 basis points to 2.75 percent, after having kept the rate at a record low 2.5 percent for 13 months.The move was widely expected, with 15 of 18 anal
The New Zealand sharemarket made a small early gain after the Reserve Bank lifted the official cash rate 25 basis points to 2.75 percent, after having kept the rate at a record low 2.5 percent for 13 months.
The move was widely expected, with 15 of 18 analysts polled by Reuters having forecast a quarter of a percentage point hike, but the NZ dollar did react, lifting from around US66.70c at 9am, when the rate rise was announced, to US67.15c by 10am.
Around 10.15am the benchmark NZX-50 index was up 4.31 points to 3004.42, on top of an 11.1-point gain yesterday after hitting a 10-month low on Tuesday.
Tower gained 4c early to 189, and several stocks were up 2c including Sky TV to 457, Ryman Healthcare to 213, Fletcher Building to 805, and Fisher&Paykel Healthcare to 323.
Nuplex Industries were also up 2c, to 290, on top of its 11c gain yesterday which came after the company encouraged investors by reaffirming its guidance.
Telecom gained 1c early to 182, after having sunk to a new record low of 179 during trading yesterday.
In the United States stocks fell in another late-day roller-coaster ride, dragged lower by BP and other energy shares as the US probe of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico deepened.
Banking shares also fell late, in sympathy with energy shares.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.4 percent to 9899.25, the Standard&Poor's 500 Index fell 0.6 percent to 1055.69, and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.5 percent to 2158.85.
