NZ stocks: Market starts week on up swing

The New Zealand share market rose on modest volume on Monday as sentiment in most financial markets turned positive.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 18.962 points, or 0.725 per cent, at 2633.443. Turnover was worth $58 million. There were 47 rises and 30 falls among the 107 stocks traded.

"The international background is positive," said Barry Lindsay, research manager at First NZ Capital. However, he added that "our market is gaining ground without much in the way of investor interest".

Fletcher Building lifted 30c to 620 in a solid outperformance of the market. While Telecom has risen from below 230 in recent weeks to end at 245, up 5c.

Mr Lindsay said there had been a reassessment of Fletcher Building post its recent capital raising.

"The market is reasonably happy with the stock," Mr Lindsay said.

Michael Hill rose 3c to 52 after reporting mixed nine month sales and said margins are still under pressure in a difficult trading environment. The stock is near its lows.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare appeared to be one of the exporters suffering from the rise today in the NZ dollar above US59c. F&P Healthcare fell 12c to 294.

Nuplex fell 1c to 33 and SkyCity fell 1c to 285. The Warehouse fell 12c to 347.

Guinness Peat eased 2c to 70 and Tower eased 5c to 130.

NZX rose 41c to 701, Ryman rose 5c to 147 and Hallenstein Glassons rose 5c to 225. AMP rose 15c to 630 and Methven rose 4c to 128. Contact rose 6c to 596 and NZOG rose 1c to 138.

US stocks rose on Friday (local time), with the Dow Jones industrial average marking its best four-week winning streak since 1933, lifted by robust results from Research in Motion and comments by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the central bank will do everything it can to stabilise banks.

Growing conviction that the worst is over for the economy helped Wall Street shrug off dour jobs data showing the highest unemployment rate since 1983.

The Dow climbed 0.5 per cent to 8017.59, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1 per cent to 842.50, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.2 per cent.

For the week, the Dow rose 3.1 per cent, while the S&P 500 advanced 3.3 per cent and the Nasdaq jumped 5 per cent.

- NZPA