Fletcher Building climbs nearly 2pc, propels market

File photo / NZH

A near 2 per cent rise in the price of Fletcher Building's shares helped propel the New Zealand sharemarket higher today.

In the wake of the local reporting season investors are focused on oil price rises on news of an airstrike in Libya near an oil terminal, a rise in the price of gold to a record high, and the implications of the Christchurch earthquakes.

The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 15.315 points, or 0.453 per cent, at 3397.308. Turnover was worth $123.8 million. There were 45 rises and 34 falls among the 115 stocks traded.

Fletcher Building, the nation's largest building company, rose 17c, or 1.99 per cent, to 871.

The company said in a presentation this week that the outlook for its 2011 financial year is mixed due to the impacts of Queensland floods and the Canterbury earthquake. Canterbury earthquake repair work will be significant, it said.

NZ Refining, operator of the country's only oil refinery, rose 18c to 500.

"The market can probably handle the current oil price as long as it's temporary and returns to more fundamentally-driven levels," Ben Potter at IG Markets said. "The longer prices remain elevated, the more markets will worry about prices derailing the global economic recovery," he said.

Steel & Tube rose 1c to 264, NZX rose 2c to 185 and SkyCity rose 2c to 336. Nuplex rose 5c to 339 and Infratil rose 3c to 196.

Rakon rose 4c to 110, while Scott Technology eased 6c to 126 even though it said its Christchurch facility has managed to return to near full operating capacity.

PGG Wrightson was unchanged at 51 on a day the target of a bid for control from China's Agria said it did not know what the intentions of investment company Zuellig were.

Contact Energy fell 7c to 608, Air NZ fell 2c to 128 and Sanford fell 5c to 505. The Warehouse fell 5c to 338 and Pumpkin Patch fell 2c to 126.

In the United States, stocks eked out gains despite rising oil prices, as investors bet the latest signs of economic strength may be able to absorb expected higher energy costs.

Wall Street seesawed against the changes in oil throughout the day. Brent crude rose to a two-1/2-year high above US$117 a barrel in the late morning after the bombing raids near Libya's oil terminals, but later slipped.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.1 per cent to 12,066.80, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.2 per cent to 1308.45, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.4 per cent to 2748.07.

Gold climbed to an all-time record at US$1440.10 an ounce. The metal has rallied 10 per cent since late January when tensions first began to flare in the Middle East and Africa.

- NZPA