KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket outpaced offshore rivals today, rising a muscly 1.6 per cent on developments in Telecom and Auckland Airport.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index rose 70.15 points to 4205.5 on a mighty $191 million total turnover.
"It's been a very positive market today and offshore markets are positive as well which has helped to drive sentiment," noted Forsyth Barr broker Suzanne Kinnaird.
Leading the market was Telecom, whose shares surged 3.3 per cent or 14c to 434, following a final ruling about the price rivals must pay for "local loop unbundling" - access to Telecom's wholesale services.
The price was more than $3 higher than in the draft determination which was good news for Telecom, Ms Kinnaird said.
Other drivers were the strong local currency and a fresh bid for Auckland Airport from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).
CPPIB, whose partial takeover bid was rejected by the airport's board last week, went straight to shareholders today with a $3.655 per share offer for 40 per cent of the company.
Auckland Airport's price shot up 30c in response to 321, on a significant $63 million turnover.
Infratil - whose joint stake in the airport with NZ Super Fund, has crept up to just under 8 per cent - was flat at 300, and its chief executive Lloyd Morrison said the offer was too low.
Other stocks having a good day included number two stock Fletcher Building, reversing recent weakness with a 26c gain to 1172.
Contact Energy, the third biggest stock, rose 21c to 920.
Smaller stocks included Freightways up 10c to 382, Port of Tauranga up 14c to 720, F&P Health up 4c to 323, Pumpkin Patch up 5c to 292, Sanford up 3c to 438, and Sky TV, up 11c to 574.
Losers included British-denominated GPG down 3c to 182, no doubt due to the currency, export stock Fisher & Paykel Appliances down 6c to 337, and Sky City off 3c to 547.
Australia's sharemarket was up 0.9 per cent by mid-afternoon and the Dow Jones rose 0.8 per cent overnight to 13,660.94.
Wall St was boosted by oil prices topping US$97 a barrel , with optimism a day ahead of Cisco Systems Inc earnings and bargain hunting in beaten-down bank stocks.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1.2 per cent, at 1520.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.07 per cent, at 2825.18.
- NZPA
