New Zealand Market Closes Higher

The New Zealand stock market closed higher on Thursday after a volatile trading session. The market opened slightly higher, boosted by overnight gains on Wall Street, but lost ground as crude oil continued to rise for a fourth day.

However, the major averages staged a recovery in the afternoon session and moved into positive terrain. The benchmark NZX 50 index closed up 6.27 points or 0.19% at 3,324.80, ending a two-day losing streak. Meanwhile, the NZX All Capital Index rose 10.28 points or 0.31% to finish at 3,369.86, extending gains for a second trading session. Wall Street posted modest gains on the back of better-than-expected durable goods data. The Dow closed up 0.8% at 11,502, the Nasdaq advanced 0.9% to end at 2,382 and the broader S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to finish at 1,281. Crude oil continued to rise for a fourth day Thursday on fears about Tropical Storm Gustav entering the Gulf of Mexico as a powerful hurricane and disrupting oil and natural gas production. By 00:08 a.m. ET, oil was quoted at US$118.97, up 82 cents, after the contract for October settlement gained $1.88 to settle at $118.15 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In the currency market, the New Zealand dollar closed stronger against the U.S. dollar. The kiwi gained after the U.S. dollar slipped from its recent highs and following a recovery in business confidence reported by the National Bank of New Zealand on Wednesday. The local unit finished the session at US$0.7056 compared to US$0.7025 late Wednesday. On the economic front, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand reported that M3, the broadest measure of monetary aggregate, increased at a faster pace of 7.6% year-on-year in July compared to 7.4% in June. However, money supply rose less than the 9.4% growth reported in the prior year. Money supply amounted to NZ$203.66 billion in July. Top stock Telecom advanced 0.6% and Fletcher Building, the third best stock, added 0.4%, while second-ranked Contact Energy lost 0.5%. In the retail sector, Hallenstein Glasson gained 1.8% and Pumpkin Patch surged 5.8%, while Jewelry retailer Michel Hill fell 1.1% and The Warehouse Group declined 0.9%. In the energy sector Vector plunged 3.0% after surging 2.6% Wednesday on the back of robust results reported by the company. TrustPower climbed 1.2%. ANZ edged up 0.3% after the country's largest bank reported a 10% increase in after-tax earnings to NZ$870 million for the nine months to June. The increase came, despite a three-fold rise in bad debt provisions to NZ$167 million. Nuplex rose 1.6% after the resins maker reported an 84% jump in after-tax earnings to NZ$48.3 million for the year to June. The company also provided a confident view of future prospects. Among other major gainers, AMP surged 3.8%, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare advanced 1.7%, Auckland International Airport rose 1.5%, Infratil climbed 1.8%, The New Zealand Refining Co added 1.0%, Pike River Coal jumped 2.2%, SkyCity Entertainment soared 3.5%, Tourism Holdings gained 2.8%, and Westpac Banking Group moved up 3.6%. Losers also included Rakon 2.1%, Property For Industry 2.6%, NZX 2.3%, Methven and Kiwi Income Property Trust 1.8% each, Lion Nathan 1.9%, ING Property Trust 2.5%, Guinness Peat Group 2.8%, Goodman Property Trust 2.6%, and Goodman Fielder and Fisher & Paykel Appliances 1.7% each. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved