KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket was one of the few markets to post gains today.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 16.06 points at 3319.22, after losing 33 points on Friday. There were 59 stocks posting rises and 33 posting losses. Turnover was worth $75 million.
"New Zealand is one of the few markets in the world that is up today," said Grant Taylor at Goldman Sachs JBWere.
US stocks fell on Friday (local time) as a US$15.5 billion ($21.6 billion) quarterly loss from General Motors and an oil price rise added to fears the US economy could slip into recession.
The Australian market was down today as was the Japanese market.
A 9c rise in Telecom to 376 ahead of its result on Friday set the wider market up well. Telecom is expected to post a $173m fourth quarter profit, down a third on last year, according to a Reuters survey but the market is looking for comment on 2009.
Guinness Peat Group rose 6c, or 4.4 per cent, to 142.
"With most of its assets offshore it is obviously a beneficiary of a lower currency," Mr Taylor said.
Exporter Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 6c to 286 and the appliances stock was up 5c at 194.
Fletcher Building added 2c to 628.
Port of Tauranga was up 15c to 650 on small volume.
Sky City was up 2c to 347, while Tower retreated 6c to 207. Auckland Airport eased 11c to 196.
Briscoe Group was unchanged on 103, after reporting second quarter sales down 2.28 per cent to $91.7 million but, in a less pessimistic tone than in recent retail sector announcements, said July sales were higher than anticipated.
Dual-listed AMP was up 20c to 800, having lost 58c on Friday after announcing the suspension of its AMP Capital NZ Property Fund.
In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.45 per cent at 11,326.32. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 0.56 per cent at 1260.31. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.63 per cent at 2310.96.
- NZPA
