The New Zealand sharemarket rose strongly today as news of vigour in the Australian economy outweighed the fallout from the collapse of South Canterbury Finance yesterday.The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 40.998 points, or 1.35%, to 3077.1.Stronger tha
The New Zealand sharemarket rose strongly today as news of vigour in the Australian economy outweighed the fallout from the collapse of South Canterbury Finance yesterday.
The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 40.998 points, or 1.35%, to 3077.1.
Stronger than expected Australian growth data and Chinese manufacturing data boosted both the Australian sharemarket and Australian dollar. Future prices also indicated renewed strength in the US sharemarket.
China's official purchasing managers' index rose to 51.7 in August from a 17-month low of 51.2 in July, while Australia's economy grew a stronger-than-expected 1.2% in the second quarter.
"There seems to have been a bit of a positive shift in sentiment this week, with today's data confirming local resilience," said Ben Potter at IG Markets.
Fonterra's internet milkpowder auction tomorrow morning is also being closely watched by local investors as an up-to-date indicator of commodity prices for this economy.
Among the leaders, Fletcher Building rose 9c to 761, Telecom eased a cent to 205 and Contact Energy eased 4c to 561. Air NZ eased 2c to 126.
Pike River Coal rose 5c to 105, while SkyCity rose 8c to 295.
Tower rose 5c to 190 and NZOG rose 3c to 118. Goodman Fielder rose 4c to 173.
Auckland Airport rose 2c to 202, while The Warehouse rose 6c to 360. Briscoe Group rose 6c to 199.
AMP Office Trust rose 1c to 73, while Kiwi Income Property Trust rose 1c to 97.
Port of Tauranga rose 3c to 678 and Mainfreight rose 6c to 671.
Allied Farmers fell to 2.5c. NZ Experience rose 2c to 37.
