The New Zealand sharemarket rallied today after a strong performance by Wall Street, and one of the biggest gainers on a big news day for New Zealand soccer was pay television operator SkyTV.
The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 22.674 points, or 0.745 percent, at 3066.576, which is about a month high. Turnover was worth $66 million. There were 47 rises and 30 falls among the 110 stocks traded.
Brokers said there may have been a feelgood factor in the 22c, or 4.58 percent, gain in SkyTV to $5.02 as New Zealanders tuned in to watch the All Whites' historic draw against Slovakia at the Fifa World Cup.
But Peter Sigley of Goldman Sachs JBWere attributed the rise to bargain hunting after the stock fell in the last month.
"There was quite strong selling pressure in the stock in the last month. There is now more normality in the market and we've seen it rebounding on modest volumes. There's been competing buyers," he said.
Guinness Peat Group shot up to 72c as the investment company led by Sir Ron Brierley said it would spin off its Australian assets but it eased back to close unchanged at 66c. Brokers said the announcement lacked detail and came after speculation of divisions in the boardroom.
Telecom rose 2c to $1.92 even though the Commerce Commission reversed its previous recommendation on mobile termination rates - fees telcos charge each other for connecting calls on their networks - and advised Communications Minister Steven Joyce to regulate.
Mr Sigley said that overall market volumes remained light.
Fletcher Building rose 13c to $8.18, Nuplex rose 5c to $3.08 and Fisher & Paykel Appliances rose 2c to 59c. Port of Tauranga rose 3c to $6.78.
Tower rose 4c to $1.94, and Cavalier Carpets rose 4c to $2.60. Mainfreight rose 6c to $6.20.
The stand in the market for 10.1 percent of Horizon Energy continued to progress with Marlborough Lines disclosing it has reached 8.15 percent.
Affco, which is subject to a bid from Talleys at 37c, closed at 38c.
OceanaGold rose 26c to $4.64. Contact Energy fell 5c to $5.84.
NZX eased 1c to $1.48 ahead of its annual meeting tomorrow and on a day an electronic platform used by institutional investors said it would trade New Zealand equities.
In the US, semiconductor shares led the way after two large Taiwanese chip producers pointed to growing global demand.
Stocks linked to global growth also rallied sharply, with heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc up 4 percent. Other multinationals with heavy exposure to Europe, such as aircraft maker Boeing Co, also climbed in sync with the rallying euro.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 2.1 percent to 10,404.77, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index advanced 2.4 percent to 1115.23, and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 2.8 percent to 2305.88.
The S&P 500's rise lifted the index above its 200-day moving average, a level it has struggled to breach for the last month, and a milestone that could signal bullish momentum for investors.
