KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket finished a bleak week with a strong performance, after United States equities finished with big gains after another roller coaster ride.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 38.045 points, or 1.394 per cent, at 2767.668.
Fletcher Building, which this week said it intended to keep its dividend at the same level as the past year despite falling profits, rose 37c or 6.85 per cent, to 577.
Among other market leaders Telecom was unchanged at 243 after earlier lifting to 253, while Contact Energy gained 14c to 725.
But countering the positive tone, Rakon took a big hit, down 44c or 26.04 per cent to 125. The quartz crystal components company today posted first half net profit down 66 per cent to $1.98 million, with sales revenues down 12 per cent to $79.4m.
"The stock is perceived as a growth stock and there is a danger with such stocks if the growth does not eventuate," said James Smalley of Hamilton, Hindin, Greene.
Overall, he said, market volume was still light with $60.92 million of shares traded. There were 51 rises and 27 falls.
"This incredible volatility we have seen in the market over the last six to nine months is still keeping people on the side lines," he said.
"We are dancing to the tune of those overseas markets," he said.
Investors were sceptical about the latest rally on Wall Street especially with US retail sales data due tonight.
NZ Oil & Gas was up 2c to 120, Pike River Coal added 2c to 99, and fishing company Sanford was also up 5c, to 565.
Auckland Airport rose 2c to 173, Fisher & Paykel Appliances rose 9c to 141, and Infratil rose 8c to 184. NZX rose 19c to 605.
Among stocks to lose Mainfreight was down 10c to 495, and Cavalier Corporation lost 7c to 200.
In the US, stocks rallied, ending up over 6 per cent, after the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq touched new multiyear lows earlier in the session, as bargain hunters rushed back into the market to scoop up beaten-down shares.
The desire to buy stocks at cheap prices offset worries about a sharper economic and consumer downturn.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended unofficially up 6.7 per cent, with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index up 6.9 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index up 6.5 per cent.
- NZPA
