Market close: Market closes higher for second day in a row

Thursday 31st July 2008

The sharemarket surged upwards today with the NZSE50 up 1.47% to end the day at 3,336.

Top stock Telecom surged 3.5% and second-ranked Contact Energy added 0.6%, while Fletcher Building lost 0.3%.

The retail sector was mixed with Hallenstein Glasson and Pumpkin Patch both adding 0.7% each, but Michael Hill dropped 1.3%.

The Warehouse Group slumped 15.7% after supermarket rivals Woolworths and Foodstuffs were blocked from bidding for the company.

Other major gainers included Auckland International Airport 5.2%, Steel & Tube Holdings 5.2%, Pike River Coal 3.6%, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare 2.6%, Freightways 2.2%, NZX 2.8%, SkyCity 2.7%.

Banks were up, with ANZ up 1.2% and Westpac Banking Group 3.7%. CBS Canterbury, the NZAX-listed building society, remained unchanged after saying it is well placed in "the resilient Canterbury regional economy" to ride through New Zealand's economic recession with its market position enhanced.

New Zealand Oil & Gas rocketed ahead 8.5% after the company reported its annual revenue soared on its share of production from the Tui oil field.

Among major losers, Tourism Holding fell 2.9%, Rakon reversed 3.4% and Infratil fell 2.3%.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 40.7 points, or 0.82%, to 4977.4, driven up by the mining sector and a rally in the US overnight.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 186.13 points, or 1.63%, to 11,583.69 and the Standard & Poor's 500 broad-market index added 21.06 points to 1,284.26.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite advanced 10.10 points to 2,329.72.

NZ Top 50	3,336.277	+48.519 (+1.48%)
ASX 200	4,977.400	+40.700 (+0.82%)
Dow	11,583.69	+186.13 (+1.63%)
Nasdaq	2,329.72	+10.10 (+0.44%)
FTSE 100	5,420.70	+101.50 (+1.91%)

NZX TOP 50
As at: 31/07/2008 5:33pm
CODE	LAST	+/-
AIA	2.04	+0.10
AIR	1.26	-0.01
AMP	8.38	-0.05
ANZ	20.95	+0.25
APN	4.12	-0.08
APT	1.10	+0.01
CAV	2.35	0.00
CEN	8.40	+0.05
EBO	4.50	0.00
FBU	6.38	-0.02
FPA	1.94	0.00
FPH	2.80	+0.07
FRE	3.25	+0.07
GFF	1.71	-0.01
GMT	1.18	+0.01
GPG	1.35	0.00
HLG	2.86	+0.02
IFT	2.17	-0.05
IMP	1.11	0.00
ING	0.82	0.00
KIP	1.13	+0.01
LNN	11.35	+0.23
MFT	6.79	+0.06
MHI	0.79	-0.01
MVN	1.61	+0.01
NPX	5.50	0.00
NZO	1.66	+0.13
NZR	6.65	-0.05
NZS	1.79	+0.01
NZX	7.71	+0.21
PFI	1.17	+0.01
PGW	2.68	+0.03
POT	6.45	-0.10
PPL	1.52	+0.01
PRC	2.04	+0.07
RAK	2.56	-0.09
RYM	1.63	0.00
SAN	5.40	+0.05
SKC	3.45	+0.09
SKL	0.91	+0.03
SKT	4.72	+0.22
STU	3.05	+0.15
TEL	3.81	+0.13
THL	1.36	-0.04
TLS	5.80	+0.04
TPW	7.96	+0.11
TWR	2.17	0.00
VCT	2.18	+0.01
WBC	27.80	+1.00
WHS	3.22	-0.60

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