Eftpos company SmartPay has confirmed it is seeking an ASX listing.

The financial market now expects the Reserve Bank will not increase the OCR from 3 to 3.25 per cent until June next year.

The NZ sharemarket is at risk of extinction because of a lack of international interest, IPOs and poor liquidity says a strategist.

Stocks in Europe and on Wall St surged overnight to start the final month of the year with an optimistic view that central banks and policy makers were committed to shoring up economic growth.

Concern about Europe's fiscal crisis was at the forefront of investors' minds again as they sold equities, the euro and European government debt.