The New Zealand sharemarket rose 27 points to close at 3379 on turnover of $97 million on Thursday.
Telecom was unchanged at $3.68, while fellow top stocks Contact Energy rose 7 cents to $8.60, and Fletcher Building was up 19c to $6.80.
Sky City Entertainment was up 4c to $3.62, while The Warehouse dropped 4c to $3.41.
New Zealand Oil and Gas was up 2c to $1.57.
Tower was down 1c to $2.10 after losing a 15-year-old venture with ANZ and National Bank.
Australia higher
The Australian share closed marginally firmer, with the banking sector gaining ground and a slightly positive Wall Street adding to the buoyant local tone.
At the 1615 AEST close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 14.2 points, or 0.29%, to 4983.3, while the broader All Ordinaries climbed 11.9 points, or 0.24%, to 5030.
The September share price index futures contract was down three points to 4967 on a volume of 19,140 contracts.
Gold miners were mixed as the spot price of gold fell to $US884 per fine ounce by 1630 AEST, down 55 US cents from Wednesday's Sydney close of $US884.55.
Total market turnover was 1.35 billion shares worth $A5.44 billion with 526 rising, 503 falling and 317 unchanged.
Japan shares down
Japanese share prices closed down 0.98% on Thursday as investors took profits after the previous day's surge, amid fresh concerns about the health of the US financial sector, dealers said.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index lost 129.90 points to end at 13,124.99.
The broader Topix index of all first-section shares fell 18.46 points or 1.45% to 1,258.81.
