KEY POINTS:
New Zealand shares rose another 2 per cent today, adding to yesterday's strong gains as they followed other markets higher.
Even news of annual inflation hitting an 18-year high of 5.1 per cent in the September quarter failed to dent the mood, with the market continuing to price in a Reserve Bank interest rate cut of up to 100 basis points on Thursday.
"We're in what's called the relief rally period. The market went down on not a lot of volume, and it's going up on moderate to low volume," said Nigel Scott of ABN Amro Craigs.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 62.1 points, or 2.15 per cent, at 2952.02 on light turnover valued at $80.4 million.
The index rose 2.9 per cent yesterday, though for the year it is still down about 27 per cent.
"The moment the global government guarantees on deposits came in, the abject fear and panic has slowed and people are just sitting back and just ascertaining that we're getting a bit of a rally," Mr Scott said.
Ability to access cash worldwide was improving slightly, although liquidity remained fragile.
"The key thing is that net selling has backed off dramatically in New Zealand."
The market gained ground despite a 6c fall for top stock Telecom to 244.
Other blue chips were more positive. Fletcher Building rose 24c to 645, Contact Energy was up 25c at 755, and Auckland International Airport rose 2c to 185.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 12c to 327, F&P Appliances gained 2c to 134, Sky TV was up 7c at 397 and Sky City gained 8c to 340.
Other stocks to make big gains included Mainfreight, up 34c to 600, Port of Tauranga, up 25c to 665, The Warehouse, up 18c at 405, and Sanford, 13c higher at 554.
Aside from Telecom, the only top-50 stocks to fall were carpetmaker Cavalier, down a cent at 247; Pike River Coal, down a cent at 142; Vector, down a cent to 202; PGG Wrightson, down 8c to 176; and Lion Nathan, down 8c to 957.
Dual-listed stocks were generally positive, with ANZ up 150 at 2110, Westpac up 81c at 2620, and AMP up 31c at 731.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 2.6 per cent at 4251, and Japan's Nikkei share average was 2.1 per cent higher.
On Wall Street, the Dow rose 4.67 per cent, the Standard & Poor's 500 index jumped 4.77 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 3.43 per cent.
The revival of American markets overnight reflected investors seeing signs of a reviving credit market and a call from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for the US Government to give its economy another US$150 million ($244 million) boost.
- NZPA
