KEY POINTS:
The sharemarket shrugged off concerns in overseas markets to close nearly 0.7 per cent higher yesterday, with leading stocks notching up moderate gains.
After closing almost flat on Monday, the NZX-50 index rose 18.65 points to 2695.08. Turnover was $74.8 million.
"Overall, a reasonable tone to the market," said Hamilton Hindin Greene director Grant Williamson.
The highlight was a nearly 3 per cent gain for Fletcher Building, which closed up 17c at $5.93. Top stock Telecom rose 4c, or 1.7 per cent, to $2.40, and second-ranked Contact Energy was up 3c at $6.85.
Auckland Airport was up a cent at $1.66, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was flat at $2.96, and F&P Appliances lost 4c to $1.28.
Sky City fell 2c to $2.82, Sky TV gained 10c to $3.95, Infratil lost a cent to $1.69, and Kiwi Income Property Trust was up 2c at $1.02.
There were healthy rises among some of the second-tier stocks.
The Warehouse bounced 17c, or 5 per cent, to $3.42, Rakon was up 8c at $1.40, Nuplex recovered 18c to $2.98, Port of Tauranga was up 15c at $6.15, and Hallenstein Glasson was up 8c at $2.28.
On the downside, Mainfreight lost 8c to $4.42, Tower fell 4c to $1.35, Pumpkin Patch lost a cent to $1.04 and TrustPower was down 5c at $7.
Dual-listed stocks were hard-hit after declines of more than 1 per cent in the S&P/ASX 200 Index in Australia.
ANZ fell 50c to $17.50, Westpac fell 20c to $19.80, Telstra shed 48c to $4.15 and Lion Nathan was down 62c at $9.50, but APN News and Media was up 25c at $2.90.
On Wall St, US stocks declined amid worries about fallout from investment manager Bernard Madoff's alleged US$50 billion ($91 billion) fraud.
- NZPA