KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket turned bullish today with a healthy-looking Fletcher Building leading the charge.
Improved sentiment on Wall Street also helped snap a four-day losing streak.
The NZSX-50 index was up 33.5 points or 0.8 per cent to 4140.6 on total turnover o f $119 million. Rises outpaced falls 64 to 39 on 143 stocks traded.
Fletcher climbed 38c to 1168, following a 12c gain yesterday when it told shareholders it was comfortable with analyst expectations of annual net profit before unusuals of between $450m-$460m.
It said earnings for the first four months were ahead of last year, despite softness in some sectors.
" The AGM comments yesterday made people realise even though things are pretty tough in all the markets that they are in, that they are showing some real resilience with their earnings," Forsyth Barr broker David Price said.
Also pushing the index upwards was Freightways, up 12c to 379 on moderately strong volume. Fellow transport firm Mainfreight rose 13c to 723.
Freightways was affected by the softening New Zealand economy but there was a feeling the stock had been oversold, Mr Price said.
Top stock Telecom was up 3c to 430, adding to yesterday's 6c gain. The Independent reported rivals saying it will be easy for Telecom to shut rivals out when it builds its next generation network.
The Fisher & Paykel twins strengthened, with Appliances up 5c to 345 and Healthcare up 6c to 330.
Air NZ had enjoyed a couple of "big days," gaining 2c to 202 after announcing higher international fares on rising oil prices.
Goodman Property Trust remained on trading halt after completing a fully subscribed placement worth $229m.
On the downside, Sky City lost 2c to 545, Auckland Airport fell 2c to 305, and Contact lost 7c to 889.
Nuplex fell 8c to 720 after the chemical and resins company announced it had bought US-based G-Cure from German chemical firm Cognis for an undisclosed sum.
Tourism Holdings, which announced plans to enter the US market with its campervans, was down 1c to 233. Dual-listed MFS Living and Leisure, which failed to take over Tourism Holdings recently, today said it wanted to build a treetops walk near Lake Brunner.
Abano lost 5c to 485 after Masthead Portfolios extended its $5 per share partial takeover bid.
- NZPA