KEY POINTS:
A retreat by the New Zealand dollar today helped boost stocks, many of which are exporters battling the soaring currency.
Following a 13-point fall on Friday, the NZSX-50 index closed up 15.12 points at 4238.65 on light turnover valued at $90.9 million.
That was despite a one-cent fall in top stock Telecom to 461.
"Bit of a positive lead coming from the US, but certainly having the currency ease back has given our market a bit of a boost," said David Le Breton of ASB Securities.
Among shares to get some relief from the NZ dollar's dip below US78c were Fisher & Paykel Appliances, up 4c to 350, F&P Healthcare, up 4c to 328, Rakon, up 10c to 480, and Pumpkin Patch, 10c higher at 358.
"(Pumpkin Patch) really had a strong run and in the last couple of months it took a bit of a battering, and a lot of that was the currency. Towards the end of last week it seemed to find a bit of favour with investors," Mr Le Breton said.
Among blue chips, Contact Energy jumped 13c to 913, Auckland Airport fell 2c to 328, Fletcher Building lost 2c to 1210, Vector rose 3c to 270 and Sky City was up 2c at 500. Sky TV rose 10c to 565 despite buying its programming in US dollars.
Tourism Holdings was steady at 270 on light turnover. THL jumped 15c on Friday when bidder MFS Living and Leisure said it would allow the payment of a 6c special dividend.
"There's still a feeling there that they'll struggle to get the 90 per cent acceptance on that takeover," Mr Le Breton said.
"It certainly seems that the company (THL) is keen to make sure that shareholders are fully abreast of the situation with regards to the takeover."
Shares in bathroom products maker Methven eased 4c to 266 after Friday's 40-cent leap to a year-high of 270, following a placement to fund the purchase of British distributer Deva Tap.
High oil prices boosted NZ Refining up 22c to 787.
NZX rose 5c to 1175, Skellerup was up 3c at 86, and Tower rose 2c to 248.
Rises outnumbered falls 64 to 34.
Among dual-listed stocks, Westpac rose 47 to 2910, ANZ was up 40c to 3230, AMP gained 11c to 1146, and Lion Nathan fell a cent to 995.
"In Australia ... oil's traded up so that's helped the resource stocks and that's flowed through to their market, and on the back of that you can see the likes of banking stocks listed over here have performed strongly," Mr Le Breton said.
Australia's benchmark index was up 0.6 per cent at 6390, while in Japan the Nikkei average rose 0.6 per cent.
On Friday, US stocks gained after rising oil prices lifted energy shares and a strong jobs report reassured investors about the economy.
- NZPA