NZ sharemarket ends week on strong footing

File photo / NZH

The New Zealand sharemarket ended the week on a strong footing, following stunning gains from stocks including Sky TV and Abano Healthcare.

Sky TV shares gained 17c to 558, after the company reported a 19 per cent rise in half year net profit to $60.3m, as revenue rose 8 per cent from a year earlier to $398m.

The company attributed the result to the success of the MY SKY HDi decoder and a rebound in advertising sales.

The benchmark NZX-50 index was up 17 points, or just over 5 per cent, closing at 3412.739 after rising 11.2 points the day before.

In early trading today OceanaGold shares were up 8c to 408, having risen from 341 at the start of the week, but by 5pm it had lost 15c to settle at 385.

OceanaGold yesterday reported a 29 per cent gain in revenue for the 2010 calendar year to US$305.6 million ($402.8m).

Full year net profit for the Melbourne-based company with gold mines in the South Island was down 18.5 per cent to US$44.4m.

Specialist health care clinic investor Abano Healthcare added 10c, or 2.2 per cent, to 465, Nuplex added 9c to 375 and Restaurant Brands gained 2c to 247.

NZ Refining Co fell 14c to 486 on top of a 10c fall yesterday after reporting an improved after tax full year profit of $57.7m.

Telecom gained 2c to 225. Contact added 3c to 625 and Fletcher Building rose 5c to close at 839.

Meanwhile, Manfreight added 4c to 819, Sanford lost 7c to 493, Vector eased 3c to 251 and Freightway fell 3c to 332.

In the United States, investors piled on a dizzying two-year advance in stocks, using a brief slip on negative economic news as an opportunity to buy into market leaders.

The technology sector showed strength, with Nvidia Corp up 9.8 per cent a day after posting a bullish revenue forecast as sales of its processors accelerate.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.2 per cent to 12,318, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.3 per cent at 1340, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.2 per cent at 2832.

- NZPA