28 Apr 2012

NZX 50 lifts by nearly 11 points at week's end

5:38 am on 28 April 2012

A rising tide in offshore markets helped lift the NZX 50, by 10.84 points (up 0.31%) as shares valued at $100 million were traded over the whole market on Friday.

Share prices on both sides of the Tasman were buoyed after the third successive session of net gains on Wall Street, and the NZX 50 closed the week at 3531.658 points.

Refining NZ jumped 3.64%, up 10 cents to $2.85 after shareholders voted to approve a $365 million upgrade of an ageing plant at the Marsden Point oil refinery.

Fletcher Building rose 1 cent to $6.20, cornerstone stock Telecom lifted 2.5 cents to $2.615, and Australian-controlled Contact Energy rose 6 cents to $4.83. Sky Network Television rose 3 cents to $5.39.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was unchanged at $2.20.

But Chorus, a company split off from Telecom, fell 5 cents to $3.37, and SkyCity Entertainment slipped 2 cents to $3.84.

At the end of the business day, the NZ dollar was selling at 81.08 US cents, 78.27 Australian cents, 50.14 pence, 65.57 yen, 0.6152 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 72.14 points.