KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket closed up but off its best levels with a surge in Telecom shares among the features of trading.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 15.31 points at 3362.92, reversing some of Friday's 20.5-point fall. There were 47 rises and 46 falls and turnover was worth $104.7 million.
Top stock Telecom rose 13c, or 4.02 per cent, to 336 on good volume.
"One day people will be out of Telecom and the next they'll be back into it, it's that kind of stock," said David Le Breton of ASB Securities.
"We have seen a lot of selling in it recently."
Sky City shares were down 1c to 342 after the company posted a full year net profit down 49 per cent to $49.9 million, although when adjusted for non-recurring items the result was up 19 per cent to $111.9m
"The result was more or less on guidance. The market was reasonably happy," said Mr Le Breton.
Attention is turning to a big day of results tomorrow with Contact Energy and Air New Zealand among the companies reporting. Contact Energy was down 11c to 831 and Air New Zealand eased a cent to 122.
Fletcher Building continued its recovery following its August 13 profit announcement, with an 11c gain to 731.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 7c to 298, after putting in the star performance on Friday with a 13c rise on commentary at the annual meeting.
Vector rose 4c to 232 and Taylors was up 6c at 136. Pumpkin Patch rose 5c to 161. TrustPower rose 5c to 785.
Tower eased 4c to 227.
US stocks ended last week with a rally, scoring their best daily gain in two weeks.
Hopes that Lehman Brothers may attract a major investor lifted financial stocks, while a plunge in oil prices soothed worries about inflation and consumer spending.
The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 1.73 per cent to 11,628.06. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1.13 per cent to 1292.20. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.44 per cent to 2414.71.
For the week, the Dow finished down 0.3 per cent while the S&P slipped 0.5 per cent and the Nasdaq fell 1.5 per cent.
- NZPA
