Market rises for third straight day

File Photo / Paul Estcourt

The New Zealand sharemarket rose for a third consecutive day but trading was tentative ahead of tonight's non-farm payroll report in the United States.

Rising risk aversion took a toll on equity markets during August, BNZ said in a report. There are widespread fears that the US economy is stalling, hence the focus on tonight's data.

But in New Zealand hopes that some of the money being paid to depositors in the collapsed South Canterbury Finance will make its way to high-yielding stocks.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 24.945 points, or 0.809 per cent, at 3107.429. There were 53 rises and 25 falls among the 112 stocks traded.

"The market is up following on from overnight markets, but volumes are nothing special," said Stuart Hardie, investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners.

NZX rose 6c, or 4.32 per cent, to 145. It got regulatory approvals for its new settlement system.

"There is a belief that some of the South Canterbury Finance money will find its way back into the equity market," Mr Hardie said.

The market's three heavyweight stocks all gained - Telecom up 2c to 205, Fletcher Building 7c to 776, and Contact Energy 5c to 566.

Hellaby Holdings rose 6c to 205, Rakon rose 4c to 120 and The Warehouse rose 5c to 365.

AMP rose 10c to 660.

Allied Farmers was unchanged at 2.4c on news that its chief executive is leaving a week after the chairman said he was departing.

NZ Farming Systems Uruguay sat at 70c, the price of Olam International's offer.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 4c to 302 on a day money-manager Mondrian Investment Partners disclosed a substantial shareholding of 5 per cent in the company.

APN News fell 4c to 246, Cavalier Carpets fell 3c to 256 and SkyCity fell 2c to 293. ANZ fell 17c to 2950 and Westpac fell 10c to 2860.

NZ Refining fell 1c to 320 and Steel & Tube fell 1c to 220.

In the US, The Dow Jones industrial average added 50.63 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 10,320.10. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 9.81 points, or 0.91 per cent, to 1090.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 23.17 points, or 1.06 per cent, to close at 2200.01.

- NZPA