KEY POINTS:
New Zealand shares closed up 0.6 per cent today, the market continuing its gentle rise with no lead from a holidaying Wall Street.
The NZSX-50 index closed up 24.8 points at 4150.53 on turnover valued at $103.2 million. Rises outnumbered falls 62 to 42.
"It's a quiet day which is quite typical of when the ... American market is closed. It does mean there's not a lot of lead from the international markets and not a lot of volatility," said Hamilton Hindin Greene partner Grant Williamson.
Blue chips were mixed, but the index found support from top stock Telecom which rose 5c, or 1 per cent, to 443.
"That is just a recovery in the share price from an oversold position, that's been happening for a few days now. It's also investors positioning themselves ahead of the capital return that's coming up," Mr Williamson said.
Fletcher Building fell 2c to 1186 and Contact Energy was down 2c at 909, while Fisher & Paykel Appliances rose 5c to 365, F&P Healthcare was up 9c at 352, and Sky TV rose 12c to 548.
Auckland Airport was up 2c at 309 amid uncertainty about a possible second bid, from Canada's second-largest super fund.
Air New Zealand was down a cent at 210, Port of Tauranga was down 5c at 690, Tourism Holdings rose 6c to 229, Vector was down 2c at 246, and Nuplex rose 3c to 688.
Exchange operator NZX was up 4c at 980 after reporting a reasonable increase in volume and value of trading last month.
NZ Oil and Gas was down 3c at 100 after a disappointing offshore Taranaki drilling result.
Among retailers, jeweller Michael Hill was down 10c at 980, The Warehouse rose 4c to 570, Pumpkin Patch was down 2c at 350, and Briscoe Group was steady at 151.
Rakon was down 5c at 475, Port of Tauranga lost 5c to 690, Trustpower was up 5c at 825, and Freightways was up 3c at 394.
There was more action among dual-listed stocks, with ANZ up 45c at 3420, Westpac up 50c to 3230, AMP 29c higher at 1250, and APN News and Media up 15c at 650.
- NZPA