Radio New Zealand

The NZX 50, lifted 16 points - about 0.5% - on Tuesday to 3478 points.

Fletcher Building rose 11 cents to $6.25, cornerstone stock Telecom rose 4 cents to $2.58, and Sky City Entertainment finished up 2 cents at $3.52.

Stocks which finished par for the day included Sky Television ($5.10) Contact Energy ($4.80) and New Zealand Oil & Gas which was unchanged at 76 cents after expanding its footprint in Indonesia, where it has won prospecting rights for a block in northern Sumatra.

Telecommunications operator Chorus fell 1 cent to $3.21, Air New Zealand fell 0.5 cent to 89.5 cents, Auckland International Airport fell 1 cent to $2.52 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 1 cent to $2.17.

Trademe's price dropped 4 cents to $3.91, Mainfreight fell 4 cents to $9.46, and Nuplex fell 1 cent to $2.29

In currency markets, the kiwi finished the trading day at 76.13 US cents, 77.28 cents Australian, 48.57 pence, 60.52 yen, 0.6074 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 69.38 points.