KEY POINTS:
A rebound on Wall St gave the local sharemarket a shot in the arm today, with the NZSX-50 index up 0.6 per cent.
A top-up from the Federal Reserve to strained credit markets injected fresh confidence in both US investors and those abroad. The Australian bourse was up 3.7 per cent in mid-afternoon trading.
Here, the NZSX-50 did not quite recoup yesterday's 0.8 per cent fall, but it rose 24.3 points to 3544.83.
"Certainly we've seen a good bounce today after what happened in the US overnight," ASB Securities broker David Le Breton said.
Gains were broad-based, with 67 rises to 27 falls on robust trading worth $167 million.
However, two-thirds of turnover by value was concentrated in Telecom, which bucked the trend, losing 2c to 294.
Economy barometer Freightways rose 10c to 324 and brokers suggested bargain hunters had come in to play with Fletcher Building, up 8c to 908.
Contact Energy rose 13c to 834 after news that lake levels were normalising, easing fears of power shortages.
Brokers were surprised to see Auckland International Airport end down 9c to 219 after the stock initially rose on Infratil's decision to sell its 3.3 per cent stake to the Canadian Pension Plan.
Investors are awaiting tonight's Auckland City Council decision on whether it will sell its 12 per cent stake into the CPP offer, which closes tomorrow.
Infratil shares were up 4c to 220, and will replace Vector in the top 10 index.
Another stock involved in index reshuffling was Nuplex which rose 12c to 636. It got sold off yesterday when it was announced the stock would replace Air NZ in the top 15, but brokers said it appeared to have benefit from today's sentiment.
Other moves included Air NZ up 5c to 145, Pumpkin Patch flat at 169, F&P Healthcare up 3c to 298, Rakon up 9c to 235, and the Warehouse up 8c to 600.
Australian finance sector stocks listed here got a big boost from the liquidity injection news. Westpac was up 215c to 2660, ANZ up 240c to 2540 and AMP 60c to 850.
Equities were given a boost when the Federal Reserve said it would add up to US$200 billion ($253 billion) to strained credit markets in a co-ordinated effort with other central banks.
That gave the the Dow and Nasdaq their biggest daily percentage gains since March 2003 and the S&P its best daily advance since October 2002.
The Dow Jones industrial average surged 416.66 points, or 3.55 per cent, to end unofficially at 12,156.81. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index shot up 47.28 points, or 3.71 per cent, to finish unofficially at 1320.65 and the Nasdaq Composite Index soared 86.42 points, or 3.98 per cent, to close unofficially at 2255.76.
- NZPA
