NZ stocks: Market takes lead from overseas counterparts

The New Zealand sharemarket took a lead from its overseas counterparts today with both major indices drifting up to new highs, a broker said.

At 4.30pm, the benchmark NZSX-50 was up 7.94 points at 2441.94, its highest level since it began in March.

The NZSX-40 capital index was up 9.54 points at 2272.21, its highest since April 1999.

The positive trend ran against the share price of market heavyweight Telecom, which was down 2c at 530 after selling $23.3 million worth of shares on volume of 4.4 million.

There was $43.5 million worth of shares traded on volume of 14.2 million. Among the 123 stocks traded were 59 rises and 24 falls.

ABN Amro Craigs retail advisor Bryon Burke said trading on the New Zealand Exchange had followed rises in the major overseas markets.

"This was despite Telecom coming under a bit a profit taking," he told NZPA today.

"Really, though, the market's volumes are pretty thin. It's nothing to get too excited about," he said.

In other market news, trading in Independent Newspapers Ltd's shares saw them finish the day up 14c at 510, after earlier peaking at an all time high of 514.

Shares on the rise today included: Auckland International Airport up 9c at 701, Baycorp Advantage up 3c at 311, Cavalier up 9c at 550, Ebos up 3c at 333, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 13c at 1265, Fletcher Building up 5c at 421, Ports of Auckland up 10c at 800, Steel & Tube up 5c at 380, and The Warehouse up 8c at 511.

Among those on the slide were: AMP down 4c at 575, F&P Appliances down 2c at 383, Hellaby down 14c at 495, Michael Hill International down 1c at 476, New Zealand Refining down 10c at 1535, Sanford down 4c at 514, and South Port down 8c at 150.

Overseas, the Dow Jones closed up 125.33 points at 10,450.00, its highest level since March 2002. The Standard & Poor's 500 advanced 13.59 points to 1109.48, its highest point since April 2002, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 33.34 points to 2006.48, its highest finish since January 2002.

In London, top UK shares rose for the seventh straight session, to their best close in over 16 months. The FTSE 100 benchmark share index closed up 12.8 points at 4457.5.

In Tokyo, Japan's Nikkei average ended up 83.21 points at 10,500.62.

- NZPA