Market Close: Market takes positive lead from Wall St

Friday 18th July 2008

Taking the lead from a positive day on Wall Street and another fall in oil prices, the sharemarket rose slightly today with the NZSE50 up 0.96% to end the day at 3,120

Top stock Telecom gained 0.9%, the second- ranked Contact Energy advanced 1.9% and Fletcher Building, the third best stock, rose 1.3%.

The retail sector closed mixed. Hallenstein Glasson and Pumpkin Patch dipped 0.7% each and The Warehouse Group lost 0.8%, while Michael Hill jumped 6.7%.

Other major gainers included APN News & Media 6.9%, Air New Zealand 2.7%, AMP 2.9%, Ebos Group 2.3%, Goodman Fielder 2.4% and Steel & Tube Holdings 4.7%.

Rakon plunged 3.7%, Pike River Coal plummeted 3.8% and New Zealand Oil & Gas fell 2.4% on continued decline in crude oil prices.

Australia fared worse off, with the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index down 60.6 points to 4840.4, bringing this week's losses to nearly 3%.

The Dow closed up 207.38 points or 1.9% at 11,446.66, the Nasdaq closed up 27.45 points or 1.2% at 2,312.30 and the S&P 500 closed up 14.95 points or 1.2% at 1,260.31. Oil plunged for the third straight session on Thursday and closed below $130 a barrel for the first time in six weeks.

NZ Top 50	3,120.910	+29.528 (+0.96%)
ASX 200	4,840.400	-60.600 (-1.24%)
Dow	11,446.66	+207.38 (+1.85%)
Nasdaq	2,312.30	+27.45 (+1.20%)
FTSE 100	5,286.30	+135.70 (+2.63%)

NZX TOP 50
As at: 18/07/2008 5:34pm
CODE	LAST	+/-
AIA	1.80	0.00
AIR	1.14	+0.03
AMP	8.50	+0.24
ANZ	23.14	-0.11
APN	4.17	+0.27
APT	1.07	0.00
CAV	2.15	0.00
CEN	7.62	+0.14
EBO	4.40	+0.10
FBU	6.46	+0.08
FPA	1.95	+0.01
FPH	2.26	+0.01
FRE	2.94	-0.01
GFF	1.68	+0.04
GMT	1.15	0.00
GPG	1.31	+0.01
HLG	2.68	-0.02
IFT	1.94	+0.02
IMP	1.10	0.00
ING	0.84	0.00
KIP	1.13	+0.02
LNN	10.66	+0.16
MFT	6.40	0.00
MHI	0.80	+0.05
MVN	1.57	+0.01
NPX	5.22	+0.05
NZO	1.62	-0.04
NZR	6.70	+0.05
NZS	1.75	+0.01
NZX	6.70	0.00
PFI	1.16	0.00
PGW	2.46	+0.05
POT	6.40	+0.10
PPL	1.42	-0.01
PRC	2.05	-0.08
RAK	2.60	-0.10
RYM	1.58	+0.02
SAN	5.16	+0.01
SKC	2.96	0.00
SKL	0.82	0.00
SKT	4.28	+0.05
STU	2.65	+0.12
TEL	3.46	+0.03
THL	1.33	+0.03
TLS	5.43	+0.05
TPW	7.60	0.00
TWR	2.05	+0.03
VCT	2.02	-0.01
WBC	26.00	+0.45
WHS	3.84	-0.03

Comments from our readers

No comments yet