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The New Zealand sharemarket has bounced back today after Wall Street also snapped back following its biggest sell-off in years.
The benchmark NZX 50 finished the day up 97.745 points, or 3.07 per cent to 3187.961.
Among the top stocks Telecom finished the day up 9c, at $2.82 while Fletcher Building gained 51c to $7.16.
Contact Energy was up 12c to $7.94.
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was up 8c to $3.01, with F&P Appliances adding 6c to $1.66. Technology stock Rakon was up 12c to $2.32.
The market started the day at 3090.216 and immediately rose 62.430 points on the back of positive movements overseas.
The rebounds came amid growing expectations that United States lawmakers will salvage a $US700 billion ($NZ1.06 trillion) rescue plan for the financial sector.
Stock markets in Japan and Australia are also having good days.
The recovery in US stocks overnight wasn't unexpected as carnage on Wall Street often attracts bargain hunters, though questions remain about how investors will proceed. Without a bailout plan in place to absorb soured mortgage debt and other bad loans from battered banks, investors are left wondering what might restore confidence in lending.
Major stock indexes were almost a sideshow during the session, with the credit markets as the main event. A key rate that banks charge to lend to one another shot higher, a tightening of the availability of credit that could cascade through the economy.
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, still stunned from Monday's 777-point rout in the Dow Jones industrial average, warned that the government needs to approve a plan that will sweep away the fears that hobbled the credit markets. While US political leaders have vowed to revisit the issue, the House isn't slated to meet again until Thursday.
"If it doesn't pass, then look out below," said Jason Weisberg, an NYSE trader for Seaport Securities. "It could get ugly."
At the close, the Dow rose 485.21, or 4.68 per cent, to 10,850.66 after falling nearly 7 per cent on Monday to its lowest close in nearly three years. It was the largest point drop and 17th largest percentage drop in the blue chip index. The percentage decline was far less severe than the 20-plus-per cent drops seen in the stock market crash of October 1987 and before the Great Depression.
Broader stock indicators also bounced higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index recovered 58.34, or 5.27 per cent, to 1,164.73, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 98.60, or 4.97 per cent, to 2,082.33.
Though the blue-chip index rose nearly 500 points by late afternoon, the main worry for traders is that a lack of a plan will make it nearly impossible for some companies to fund basic operations like making payroll. Participants in the credit market buy and sell debt that companies use to finance operations.
The benchmark London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, that banks charge to lend to one another, rose sharply Tuesday, making it more expensive and difficult for consumers and businesses to borrow money. In addition, credit card debt and more than half of adjustable-rate mortgages are tied to LIBOR, so an increase isn't welcome for many consumers.
LIBOR for 3-month dollar loans rose to 4.05 per cent from 3.88 per cent on Monday. LIBOR for 3-month euro loans, meanwhile, rose to 5.27 per cent, from 5.22 per cent Monday.
Critics of the bailout package believe that it was too costly and wouldn't have done enough to jump-start lending. To maintain pressure ahead of Thursday's likely vote, President Bush said in a statement from the White House early Tuesday that the damage to the economy will be "painful and lasting" unless Congress passes the bailout measure.
On Wall Street, many traders likely will proceed cautiously while they gauge prospects for resurrecting the bailout effort, which was backed by leaders of both parties.
"I'm not getting the sense that investors are going to be jumping in with both feet until there is some kind of resolution on the plan," said James Maguire, an NYSE floor trader with Christopher J. Forbes. "If there's a no vote, we're going to see a lower overall drift in stocks. It will be a slow bleed."
Traders also will likely focus on how the bloodshed will look on paper. Tuesday marks the final session of the third quarter - and what is typically the worst month for the stock market - so some portfolio managers might try to do what they can to dress up their performance. Others might simply wish to dump holdings in an unpopular corner of the market like the financial sector.
The yield on the 3-month Treasury bill rose Tuesday to 0.89 per cent from 0.14 per cent late Monday. The yield fell Monday as investors clamoured for the safety of government debt. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.83 per cent from 3.58 per cent late Monday. The dollar rose against other major currencies and gold prices advanced.
- NZPA / AP / NZ HERALD STAFF
