NZ market: Rises for Fletcher, Contact

The New Zealand sharemarket rose today after strong earnings lifted Wall Street and as China reported slower but still robust growth.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 21.902 points, or 0.675 per cent, at 3264.915, after yesterday losing 14.9 points.

The leaders, which had been weak yesterday, mostly turned around with the market and there was a flow of corporate news to influence secondary stocks.

Fletcher Building rose 8c to 821 and Contact Energy rose 6c to 578 but Telecom was unchanged at 203.

Medical equipment company Ebos rose 5c to 705 after announcing a 20c a share special dividend at its annual meeting today, while AMP Office Trust rose 2c to 79 after getting proposals opposed by institutional shareholders through a meeting of unitholders today.

Allied Farmers rose to 2.1c from 0.06c after executing plans to pay of its debt to Westpac.

But the news flow was not all positive. NZOG eased a cent to 125 after disclosing there were new problems at the Pateke 3H production well it is a part owner of.

Metlifecare rose 10c to 230 even though it told shareholders at its annual meeting that many challenges remain for the retirement village operator, despite a good turnaround in financial performance last financial year.

Vector rose 2c to 237 ahead of its annual meeting tomorrow.

Restaurant Brands added to yesterday's 6c gain with another 5c lift, taking it to 263. Yesterday the company reported a 50 per cent rise in first half net profit, excluding non-trading items, to $13.9 million.

Air NZ, led by Rob Fyfe who was judged chief executive of the year at an international industry function last night, rose 3c to 134.

The Warehouse rose 6c to 399, Sky City eased a cent to 292, Rakon rose a cent to 125 and TrustPower rose 10c to 745.

Wall Street bounced back on Wednesday in reaction to a spate of strong earnings from Boeing, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines parent AMR Corp.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.2 per cent to 11,107.97, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 1.1 per cent to 1178.17, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.8 per cent to 2457.39.

- NZPA