NZ stocks: Kiwi shares get a lift from US rebound

12.00pm

New Zealand shares appeared to get a lift from a promising late-session rally on Wall St this morning.

Overnight there was an initial sell-off in the US stock market after the US Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged with indices tumbling more than 2 per cent.

But that situation more than reversed itself as investors swung to stocks when treasury yields tumbled to their lowest levels in almost four decades.

Just after 11am there were signs that New Zealand stocks would catch on - the NZSE-40 "Top 40" capital index rose 5.56 points to 2027.53 on a light $15.8 million turnover.

Market leader Telecom led the market, up 2c to 501 on fairly solid turnover worth $6.3 million. No 2 on the index, Carter Holt Harvey was up 2c to 176 on light volume, while Fletcher Forests rose a cent to 23 following a shareholder vote against its $1.4 billion purchase of the Central North Island forest.

Fletcher Building continued to ease, despite a healthy $93 million turnaround annual profit announced yesterday. It was down a cent to 284 this morning after falling 7c yesterday.

The two Fisher and Paykel companies were having a good day, with the appliance unit up 4c to 955 and healthcare up 8c to 928 in the wake of positive results.

Cadmus Technology, a maker of eftpos terminals, was steady at 8c after telling the stock exchange yesterday that it knew of no reason why its share price had risen 40 per cent in a week.

Fletcher Building, which posted a healthy turnaround in annual profit yesterday, was down a cent to 284. BIL International, formerly Brierleys, slipped 1c to 63.

Stocks to watch today are INL and its 66 per cent-owned subsidiary Sky TV, which will make their annual reports today. They were both steady at 345 and 380 respectively.

So far there have been 32 rises and 14 falls on 88 stocks traded.

On Wall St the broad S&P 500 Index gained 35.41 points, or 4.00 per cent, at 919.62, its highest close since July 12.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 260.92 points, or 3.08 per cent, at 8,743.31, while the technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was up 65.02 points, or 5.12 per cent, at 1,334.30.

- NZPA