KEY POINTS:
A strong day on offshore markets rubbed off on the New Zealand sharemarket , sending its benchmark NZSX-50 index up 0.3 per cent.
The NZSX-50 jumped 12.6 points to 4187.97 on robust turnover worth $159 million.
It was underpinned by "a very buoyant market overseas and of course, the Australian Reserve Bank's decided not to raise (interest) rates so it's been an extremely positive day in Australia," Forsyth Barr broker Suzanne Kinnaird said.
Offsetting that was a 9c fall in Telecom to 483 as profit-takers took advantage of the stock's resurgence following the sale of its Yellow Pages business.
Interest was high in PGG Wrightson up 9c to 161 on $11.9m worth of shares, and Sky City which fell 5c to 470.
Trading was also strong in Michael Hill, which jumped 25c to 955 after it announced plans to move into Britain or the United States when its Canadian jewellery stores turned a profit.
"It's exciting to see that company may ultimately be fully global, a good New Zealand story," Ms Kinnaird said.
GPG rose 7c to 238 after one of its interests, Premier Investments, sold its 6 per cent stake in Coles to Wesfarmers yesterday. GPG holds a 16 per cent stake in Premier.
Among the leaders, Contact Energy hit a fresh high of 930 before edging down to 928, up 3c. Fletcher Building gained 24c to 1135 off the back of the strong Australian market, and the Warehouse rose 12c to 689 on moderate turnover.
Brokers suggested the Warehouse was benefiting from increased market expectations following Wesfarmer's record takeover bid for Coles.
ING Property Trust dropped 2c to 132 after the company said it was looking to build a property portfolio worth up to $200m in Japan, where rental yields are higher and interest rates are low.
High-flying Air New Zealand eased 6c to 239 after hitting a three-year peak yesterday.
A full takeover was mounted for Caci Group, a group of cosmetic appearance clinics, after its founders said they wanted to take the company private. Their investment company, Cosmedex Investments, is offering 38cps against a three-month average of 25cps on the NZAX.
Skellerup was up a cent to 129 after late news that it was buying Italian rubber manufacturer Tumedei for $19.6 million.
Elsewhere, Sky TV came off a bout of weakness to climb 10c to 556, and Goodman Fielder rose 15c to 296.
Rises outnumbered falls 78 to 45 on 156 stocks traded.
Overseas, Asian markets climbed today after a rise in US home sales soothed concerns about the outlook for the key US market.
Tokyo's Nikkei index rose 1.5 per cent by the midsession, while Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index rose 1.44 per cent to reach an all-time high at 3335.78 points.
The MSCI index of Asian shares excluding Japan was up 1 per cent by 1027 GMT (10.27pm NZT) to hit a record high of 416.80.
Australian shares rose 1.1 per cent on the ASX-200 to a fresh all-time high of 6088, after the country's central bank kept interest rates on hold.
US stocks closed sharply higher as a drop in oil prices calmed worries about inflation and home sales data raised hopes the housing market was stabilising.
The rally took the Dow and S&P 500 to their highest levels since February 27, when worries about slowing US economic growth sent global markets in to a sharp decline.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.03 per cent to 12,510.30, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.16 per cent to 2450.33.
- NZPA