KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket finished higher but off its best levels and attention is now turning to the Telecom annual result tomorrow morning.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 26.55 points, or 0.79 per cent, at 3378.89. There were 60 rises and 25 falls and turnover was worth $106.8 million.
"It was a good morning with the market well up over 1 per cent but Australia opened and trended down and that took the steam out of the New Zealand market," said Grant Williamson, a partner at Hamilton Hindin Greene.
"It's been a pretty reasonable week for the New Zealand market but it is now starting to look a bit toppy on a short-term basis."
Telecom rose to 383 but finished up unchanged at 368.
Fletcher Building continued to enjoy renewed interest in the lower interest rate environment, rising 19c to 680.
Ebos rose 20c to 480 but it was on light volume.
Contact Energy was up 19c at one point but gave much of the gain up to close up 7c at 860.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances added 4c to 203 and Healthcare was unchanged at 278.
Infratil was down 5c at 217, while The Warehouse was down 4c at 341.
Tower eased 1c to 210 after it said it was stopping selling general insurance through ANZ National bank.
Tourism Holdings fell 1c to 139, while SkyCity was up 4c at 362.
Auckland Airport rose 4c to 198. Pike River Coal eased 9c to 185.
US stocks built on the previous day's big gains, as a further drop in oil prices to a three-month low below US$118 ($166) a barrel, and a reassuring outlook from Cisco Systems overshadowed persistent credit concerns.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.35 per cent to 11,656.07, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.33 per cent to 1289.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.21 per cent to 2378.37.
- NZPA
