KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket quietly lifted itself to a fresh record high during a relatively sedate session.
The star performer was Fletcher Building which said a $70 million tax windfall would boost its full year result.
The stock jumped to an alltime high of $11.90, weakening to $11.78, up 10c by the close.
That helped boost the benchmark NZSX-50 index by 9.09 points or 0.2 per cent to 4232. 32, a new closing high.
Total turnover was $113 million, of which $38 million was in Telecom, which fell 6c to 475.
"We're not doing anything flash today but consolidation's always good," ASB Securities broker Stephen Wright said.
Stocks like Fletchers with exposure to Australia were possibly also benefiting from good vibes there, he noted.
The Australian sharemarket touched a fresh alltime high today, following a positive budget and rumours of a mining takeover.
Power companies Contact and Trustpower were up 5c to 881 and unchanged at 810 respectively .
Trustpower majority shareholder Infratil was also up strongly to 10c to 625, as rumours of an interested buyer for Wellington Airport emerged.
Auckland Airport, which has been subject to similar rumours, was up 7c to 272 today.
CanWest MediaWorks, the owner of TV3, C4 and a group of radio stations, rose 1c to 240, below the $2.43 per share offer from Australian private equity company Ironbridge.
Volumes indicated that some investors were not expecting or prepared to wait for a higher offer, Mr Wright said.
"Where it's under, generally, the market's telling you there'll be no other competition for the shares and no higher price."
Later an institutional investor, Brook Asset Management, told the sharemarket that it had upped its stake by a per cent to 8.3 per cent of Mediaworks.
Other moves included Sky City up 3c to 494, The Warehouse down 9c to 679, Hellaby up 9c to 429, Abano up 8c to 310, Ryman up 7c to 254, and Port of Tauranga up 5c to 645.
Best performer today was Sealegs, up 11 per cent to a new high of 89c, up 9c.
A slight weakening in the New Zealand currency helped currency-sensitive stocks including Michael Hill up 10c to 950, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare up 4c to 376 and Sanford up 10c to 480.
NZ Windfarms was unchanged on 195 after calling a trading halt pending an announcement on a capital raising signalled a fortnight ago.
Offshore, Australian shares jumped after rumour of a takeover of Rio Tinto by BHP Billiton sent Rio shares soaring.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index hit a lifetime high of 6,350.4 during the session but crabbed lower to 6,333.9, up 0.5 per cent, in mid-afternoon.
On Wall Street overnight, US stocks closed flat as investors locked in profits after five straight sessions of gains in blue chips.
A day before the Federal Reserve's meeting on interest-rate policy, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 3.90 points to end unofficially at 13,309.07. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged up just 0.80 of a point to close unofficially 2571.75.
- NZPA