NZ stocks: NZ unmoved by surge in US

A strong rally on Wall Street brought no reaction from the New Zealand sharemarket yesterday.

The top 40 index ended with a 4.12 point, 0.2 per cent rise to 1899.81.

The top 10 index closed up 7.58 points, 0.9 per cent, to 828.65. The small stocks index rose 18.23 to 5167.13.

In America, the Nasdaq Index rose 5.93 per cent and the Dow Jones industrial average climbed nearly 2 per cent before the local opening.

Salomon Smith Barney broker Craig Robins said there was still a good flow of money into the market, and a number of leading stocks were now close to levels seen before the terrorist attacks in the US.

"There has been a lot of cash built up and people coming back into the market for good quality stocks such as Fisher & Paykel and Sky City Casino," he said.

The US fiscal stimulus, a soothing profit report from Cisco and some strong US manufacturing data helped markets. But Mr Robins said things remained tentative and nervy.

Market leader Telecom continued its recovery from an eight-year low on Monday, finishing up 4c at 449 on 4 million shares traded. Its fortunes contrasted with Telstra, which dropped 17 to 622.

Of the second-line stocks to rise, Auckland Airport gained 5c to 346, Independent Newspapers 10c to 330, Fisher & Paykel 40c to 1350, and Sky TV 15c to 335.

- NZPA