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New Zealand shares partly recovered today after taking a tumble yesterday in delayed reaction to Wall Street's fall on Friday.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index was up 14.3 points to 4289.0 at 10.20am, having fallen 1 per cent yesterday, despite strong world markets.
Turnover was light at $20 million with 19 rises and eight falls among the 62 stocks traded.
Top stock Telecom gained 4c to 452, having lost 6c yesterday.
Second-ranked Fletcher Building recovered half of yesterday's 20c loss to be on 1228, while No 3 Contact Energy regained 5c of its 13c loss to be on 935.
The Warehouse, which yesterday went against the market with a 10c gain, rose another 5c to 560 today.
Yesterday, a hearing started into Woolworths' and Foodstuffs' appeal against the Commerce Commission rejection of their takeover application for the discount retailer.
Abano Healthcare was up 15c to 450 after directors unanimously rejected a partial takeover offer from Masthead Portfolios.
An independent report by Ferrier Hodgson identified a value range of $5 to $5.80 for Abano shares with a mid point of $5.40 -- 40 per cent above the Masthead offer of $3.85 for control of the company, Abano said.
Masthead, the investment company of Christchurch's Stewart family, already owned 19.9 per cent of Abano when it announced it was seeking to lift its shareholding to 51 per cent.
Dominion Finance was up 8c to 160 after it shrugged off "challenging times" for the sector to report a record net profit of $9.4m for the six months, up 33 per cent on a year ago. It also lifted its dividend.
Shares in eftpos technology company Provenco rose another 3c to 72c after surging 9.5 per cent, or 6c, to 69c yesterday when it announced it would merge with fellow eftpos company Cadmus. Cadmus lost nearly 11 per cent, or 2c, to 16.5 yesterday.
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US stocks rallied as Apple's strong profit and a Chinese distribution deal for BlackBerry maker Research in Motion suggested the sector is the place to hide from a slowing US economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 109.26 points, or 0.81 per cent, to end at 13,676.23. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 13.26 points, or 0.88 per cent, at 1519.59 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 45.33 points, or 1.65 per cent, at 2799.26.
- NZPA