Blue chips lead continued sharemarket recovery

File photo / NZ Herald

The New Zealand sharemarket continued to recover from last week's three-month low yesterday, holding on to gains made in early trade as blue-chip stocks buoyed the market.

Stocks rose across the globe as risk appetite returned, following progress in resolving Japan's nuclear crisis.

The NZX-50 index closed up 16.85 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 3365.2, having risen nearly nine points on Monday.

Among the top stocks, Fletcher Building closed up 5c at $8.78, Contact Energy was up 2c at $5.76, Telecom gained 0.5c to $1.99, SkyCity rose 3c to $3.36 and Sky TV was up 4c at $5.59.

Infrastructure investor Infratil was up 2c at $1.93, lines company Vector gained 5c to $2.46, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare put on 4c to $3.13.

Freightways climbed 6c to $3.12, while Mainfreight was unchanged at $8.70. Retailer The Warehouse was up 3c at $3.42, jeweller Michael Hill International inched 1c higher at 91c, while clothing retailers Hallenstein Glasson and Pumpkin Patch were steady at $3.65 and $1.30 respectively.

Outdoor clothing retailer Kathmandu rose 6c to $2.22.

Insurer and fund manager Tower was 1c higher at $1.74, stock exchange operator NZX fell 1c to $2.04, and accounting software developer Xero rose 4c to $2.52.

Just 11 stocks declined in the top-50, including a 4c fall for Methven to $1.52, a 7c fall for Steel & Tube to $2.52, a 1c fall for Air New Zealand to $1.11 and a 2c fall for Rakon to $1.04.

Australian banking stocks rose, with Westpac up 20c at $31.20 and ANZ up 65c at $31.85, while Telstra fell 4c to $3.61.

Across the Tasman, the S&P/ASX 200 Index was down a point at4640.

Japan's Nikkei share average was up 3.8 per cent yesterday afternoon, having partly recovered from its 14 per cent slump last week on fears about the crippled nuclear reactor.

In the United States, buyers were enticed by the biggest proposed merger of the year.

AT&T rose 1.1 per cent after the company announced a US$39 billion ($53 billion) plan to buy Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA, refocusing investor attention on attractive company valuations.

- NZPA