NZ stocks: Market stages post-Budget rally

The New Zealand sharemarket started well and kept on improving today.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 42.197 points, or 1.55 per cent, at 2764.174, having risen 19.85 points in early trading.

Turnover was worth $128 million. There were 58 rises and 26 falls among the 113 stocks traded.

"The firmer offshore markets helped and there was still a pretty reasonable reaction to the budget," said Grant Williamson, director at Hamilton, Hindin, Greene.

He said investors viewed yesterday's government budget as responsible and uncertainty about the country's credit rating had been removed with the statement from Standard and Poor's that the outlook on the rating had improved. Tower rose 11c to 168 after reporting a rise in interim underlying profit of 5 per cent to $21.5 million.

"It was a very solid result. It was only a small improvement but achieved in very difficult conditions," Mr Williamson said.

Fletcher Building rose 20c to 650 after buildings consents data suggested the property market may be turning.

Fisher & Paykel Appliances rose 4c to 110 in an ongoing positive reaction to news of a cornerstone shareholder and rights issue.

Vector fell 3c to 202 and $14.9m worth of shares traded.

Air NZ was unchanged after signalling a further capacity reduction and likely redundancies affecting 80 staff.

Auckland Airport rose 1c to 160 and $11.9m worth of shares traded today. Late today credit rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the company's credit rating.

Telecom was one of the few leaders to decline, falling a cent to 251.

Freightways, which closed its share purchase plan oversubscribed, closed up 10c at 300.

NZX fell 7c to 795, AMP fell 2c to 600 and SkyTV fell 2c to 410. TrustPower fell 5c to 780.

SkyCity rose 6c to 286, Pike River Coal rose 15c to 123, NZ Farming Systems rose 3c to 55 and Nuplex rose 2c to 46. The Warehouse rose 7c to 369.

US stocks climbed more than 1 per cent on Thursday as higher oil prices drove up energy shares and falling yields in the bond market eased concerns that higher borrowing costs would hinder economic recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 103.78 points, or 1.25 per cent, to finish at 8403.80. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 13.77 points, or 1.54 per cent, at 906.83. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 20.71 points, or 1.20 per cent, at 1751.79.

- NZPA