NZ stocks: Telecom lends hand to rising sharemarket

12.00 pm

Another boost to Telecom's price lent a hand to the sharemarket this morning, but brokers said the overall market could have been higher after a strong lift on Wall St.

Just after 11am, the NZSE-40 capital index was up 6.57 points to 2090.39 and total turnover was $28.1 million.

Telecom was up 6c to 520, as it recovered from a plunge to 507 last week on accounting fears.

Alan Wills of Forsyth Barr Frater Williams noted that "as time goes by, those accounting issues will become less relevant".

There was solid trade in Fisher & Paykel Healthcare which rose 10c to 1125, and Sky City fell 5c to 600 as the company announced a net profit for the six months to December of $10.1 million.

The result was reduced by a $27.8 million write-down of its investment in Force Corp, and compared with a $33.2 million profit the year before.

Fletcher Forests ordinary and preference shares lost 2c to 24 earlier today as the company posted a net after tax loss of $302 million for the half year to December.

It included the write-off of a $349 million loan relating to Forests' failed Central North Island Forest Partnership (CNI). No interim dividend will be paid.

Other moves included a 2c rise in Fletcher Building to 306, a 4c lift in Contact (397) and a 24c gain for Port of Auckland (600).

There were 28 falls and 34 rises on 100 stocks traded.

This morning Wall St was enjoying an "eye-popping" rally fuelled by better profit outlooks and strong home sales.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 1.78 per cent or 177.56 points to 10,145.71, the highest level for the Dow since the second week of January.

The broad Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1.80 per cent, or 19.59 points, to 1109.43, its largest daily percentage gain since early December.

The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index surged 2.63 per cent to 45.34 points to 1769.88 -- its biggest one-day percentage gain since January 3.

- NZPA