KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand sharemarket recovered along with markets around the region today, despite initial doubt over the bid for Auckland Airport.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index closed up 0.3 per cent, or 11.37 points, at 4118.97. The index had a 46-point range.
"We saw bounces across all the leaders, the strongest of which was Telecom," said Peter Sigley of Goldman Sachs JBWere.
Top stock Telecom was up 7c at 428, while second-ranked Fletcher Building was down 4c at 1176, 22c above its session low.
Auckland Airport also recovered from its low of 285 to end down 2c at 303, on heavy turnover of 4.8 million shares.
Bidder Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) said recent legal proceedings filed by Air New Zealand seeking a judicial review of Auckland Airport's recent aeronautical pricing process constituted a "prescribed occurrence" under the terms of a merger agreement.
DAE said if the parties were unable to reach agreement by the end of a five working day consultation period, either party could terminate the merger agreement.
The stock recovered partly on the back of the wider market bounce, and also due to speculation that Canada Pension Plan could return to the picture.
"Also the fact that while this notice is out, it didn't definitively say that DAE had fallen out of the race for substantial proportional shareholding in Auckland Airport," Mr Sigley said.
Contact Energy was down 12c at 915, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 2c at 338, F&P Appliances lost 4c to 369, Sky City was down 5c at 458, and Sky TV shed 3c to 558.
Port of Tauranga lost some of yesterday's gains to close down 10c at 700, Air New Zealand rose 5c to 206, Freightways was up 5c at 395, and Mainfreight lost 2c to 707.
Sanford was up 15c at 455, Tower rose 7c to 231, Rakon was up 7c at 489, and The Warehouse rose 3c to 564.
PGG Wrightson lost 4c to 183, NZX rose 8c to 983, and Pumpkin Patch was up 2c at 355.
ANZ shed 60c to 3350, Westpac was up 45c at 3145, AMP gained 14c to 1215, Lion Nathan rose 5c to 1055, and Goodman Fielder was up 10c at 300.
Australia's benchmark index rose 1.6 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei average rose nearly 2 per cent.
Earlier, US markets fell on mounting concerns that credit market upheaval will erode bank profits and hold back consumer spending. A big catalyst for the US drop came from Lehman Brothers, which slashed earnings estimates on its investment banking peers, warning about the impact of faltering credit markets on profits.
- NZPA
