KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket notched up a 1 per cent gain today during a quiet session, although it failed to match Australia's 3 per cent rise.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 30.11 points, or 1.11 per cent, at 2735.86, after closing virtually flat yesterday when holidays in Auckland and Australia meant little business was done.
"It was very, very quiet, despite the fact that even Auckland was back today," said Stephen Wright of ASB Securities.
Volume totalled just $45.6 million.
Top stock Telecom was up 6c at 257, and second-ranked Contact Energy gained 4c to 670.
Fletcher Building jumped 17c, or 3 per cent, to 571 on low turnover. However, recent trading in the building supplies and construction stock has been volatile and today's gains could be eroded tomorrow, Mr Wright said.
Auckland Airport was up 6c at 184, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 5c to 323, F&P Appliances was up 4c at 130, Sky TV rose 5c to 395, and Sky City fell 3c to 307.
NZ Oil and Gas gained 3c to 129 on the back of higher oil prices and a promising coal find from Pike River Coal on the West Coast.
Pike River, however, failed to capitalise and retreated a cent to 97.
Infratil was up 4c at 169, Sanford rose 10c to 540 and Trustpower also gained 10c, to 725.
Market operator NZX was down 10c at 489, The Warehouse lost 6c to 368, Tower was down 3c at 161, and Guinness Peat Group was down a cent at 86c.
Among dual-listed stocks, ANZ Bank lost 41c to 1550, Westpac was up 4c at 1860, and Lion Nathan and APN News & Media were untraded.
APN shares fell in Australia after 39-per cent owner Independent News & Media PLC said it had abandoned the sale of its shareholding in the company.
On Wall Street, stocks were lifted by optimism over a US$68 billion ($130.5 billion) takeover in the drug industry. That offset a grim warning about the year ahead from Caterpillar and worries over the state of the financial sector.
- NZPA
