KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket steadily rebounded today, rising 1.2 per cent following a wild session on Wall Street that saw the United States market reverse a 2 per cent fall with a 2.5 per cent gain.
US stocks rallied late in the session, led by rising shares of financial companies on speculation about capital infusions for bond insurers. Markets also received a boost this week after the US Federal Reserve made a 75 basis point emergency cut to interest rates.
"The continued circuit breaker actions within the US Fed and banking environment have tried to provide some confidence in the markets overnight, and the volatility and the trading ranges in those markets continue to be significant," said Nigel Scott of ABN Amro Craigs.
He called the session a "continued moderate recovery", on reasonable volume of $112.5 million.
"The market's found a level where it's prepared to look to trade at this point in time, and will continue to await opportunities up or down," Mr Scott said, noting that volatility would continue to be a feature.
The benchmark top-50 index ended up 43.3 points at 3658.6, after a 0.2 per cent rise yesterday, when it snapped a record 14-session losing streak.
The local market got no help from Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard, who, as expected, left the Official Cash Rate unchanged at 8.25 per cent, and delivered a hawkish statement which gave no hint of rate cuts to come.
Stocks to post large gains today included The Warehouse, up 23c or 4 per cent to 575, Rakon, up 26c or 7.4 per cent to 379, Mainfreight, up 29c or 5 per cent to 599, and Ryman Healthcare, up 11c or 6.5 per cent to 181.
Among the blue chips, Telecom was up 4c at 403, Fletcher Building rose 15c to 1010, Contact Energy gained 17c to 737, Auckland Airport lost a cent to 255, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 6c to 313, and F&P Appliances was up 4c at 290.
Sky City rose 5c to 418, and Sky TV was up 10c at 542.
Trustpower jumped 30c to 750, Infratil was up a cent at 260, Air New Zealand rose 3c to 176, Pumpkin Patch was up 4c at 244, Hellaby gained 20c to 240, and Hallenstein Glasson was up 6c at 356.
The decliners were in the minority. ING Property was down 4c at 102, carpetmaker Cavalier was down 5c at 270, Guinness Peat Group fell a cent to 150, GuocoLeisure lost 6c to 84c, and Port of Tauranga was down 3c at 607.
ANZ rose 70c to 2970, Westpac was up 10 at 2920, AMP fell 19c to 935, and Lion Nathan was up 13c at 1028.
- NZPA