KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket spiked up 1.3 per cent within minutes of opening today after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates by half a percentage point, rather than the quarter point cut most analysts had expected.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index was up 54.8 points to 4178.3 at 10.05am, more than wiping out yesterday's 45.20 points loss.
Auckland Airport shares jumped 36c to $4.30 after the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board said it had come up with three options for acquiring a significant minority stake.
They include an all cash option of $3.70 per share, the CPP board said today.
The other two options, which would provide a value of up to $3.90 per share, would involve a combination of cash and the issue of new securities that provided enhanced returns while preserving the investment grade rating of AIAL.
The rest of the market was broadly up with Fletcher Building, up 12c to 1211 and Contact Energy, up 9c to 900, the biggest movers.
Market leader Telecom was up 4c to 434.
Infratil, which with the NZ Super Fund owns 6 per cent of Auckland Airport, was up 8c to 289.
Elsewhere, most top 50 stocks were up between 3c and 5c.
Cavalier fell 5c to 325, possibly as a result of a US2c jump in the NZ dollar after the Fed decision.
Mainfreight was down 1c to 709 after it rose 5c yesterday against the market trend on news of its US$53.7m ($77m) purchase of US company Target Logistics Inc.
Tourism Holdings, in the same league, was down 3c to 225.
Turnover was solid at $35m.
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US stocks jumped more than 2 per cent when the Fed cut raised hopes the economy could ride out a prolonged housing slump and turmoil in the credit market.
The Dow Jones industrial average unofficially ended up 336.05 points, or 2.51 per cent, at 13,739.47.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 43.10 points, or 2.92 per cent, to finish unofficially at 1519.75 and the Nasdaq rose 70.00 points, or 2.71 per cent, to close on 2651.66.
- NZPA