KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket ended the week with a healthy 1.9 per cent rise, notching up its third consecutive gain as world markets remained volatile but on the positive side.
Following rises of 1 per cent and 2 per cent in the US at the end of a bumpy session, Asian stocks jumped up to 5 per cent in a relief rally on hopes that a looming US recession may be averted.
The NZSX-50 index closed up 70.5 points at 3729.2, to be 226 points above Tuesday's 15-month low. Volume was $115.5 million.
"All our leaders improved, in particular Telecom had a good finish, although the market started off very slowly in the morning and then picked up in the afternoon in line with the rises experienced throughout the rest of Asia," said Stephen Wright of ASB Securities.
Telecom rose 6c to 409, Contact Energy was up 6c at 743, and Fletcher Building surged 4.5 per cent, or 45c, to 1055.
"It fell fairly quickly, so one would expect it to have a recovery like that," Mr Wright said.
Other blue chips were positive but more subdued. Fisher & Paykel Appliances was up 6c at 296, F&P Healthcare rose 2c to 315, Auckland Airport was up 5c at 260, Sky City gained 4c to 422, Sky TV rose 2c to 544, and Vector was up 5c at 223.
Air New Zealand jumped 7c, or 4 per cent, to 183, having hit a year-low on Tuesday of 163.
The majority government-owned airline reported healthy operating statistics today for December, and announced reductions in domestic air fares from next month to stimulate demand.
"That's coming up for a result at the end of February, so you'd have to think as generally known that Air New Zealand is having a golden patch. Fuel prices seem to be the only black cloud on the horizon," Mr Wright said.
The Warehouse was up 10c at 585, Port of Tauranga was up 13c at 620, Steel & Tube jumped 23c to 364, Trustpower was up 40c at 790, Freightways rose 4c to 347, and NZX gained 10c to 800.
Hallenstein Glasson was unchanged at 356, despite confirming a forecast of lower first half profit.
Hellaby was down 11c at 229, Cavalier lost 4c to 266, GuocoLeisure was down 7c at 77, and Methven fell 7c to 178.
With very few buyers and sellers, Cavalier, Methven, Hellaby had had up days recently when the rest of the market was down.
Turners & Growers, which looks set to take over Kerifresh, was up 10c at 210.
Dual-listed stocks were stronger, with ANZ up 120 at 3090, Westpac up 80c at 3000, AMP 70c higher at 1005, and Lion Nathan up 52 at 1080.
- NZPA