The New Zealand sharemarket inched up about half a percent today as it continued to feel the weight of the Australian market, still reeling from news of a tax on the key mining industry.
The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 17.66 points at 3298.02, having fallen around 6 points yesterday.
The index failed to reflect the 1.4 percent rise for top stock Telecom, which closed up 3c at $2.20 ahead of its quarterly result on Friday.
"Australia and their poor performance is still weighing on our market to a degree - their mining tax has really knocked the Australian market and possibly stopped ours from being even firmer today," Hamilton Hindin Greene director Grant Williamson said.
"Even the large swings we're experiencing in the offshore markets are not having a huge influence on the local board. I think investors really are a little bit uncertain on what to do at the moment, so the majority just seem to be sitting tight," he said.
Among blue chips, Fletcher Building was up 2c at $8.40, Contact Energy rose a cent to $6.29, Infratil rose 2c to $1.73, and Sky City fell a cent to $3.15.
Air New Zealand fell 3c to $1.31 after yesterday's news the airline was seeking approval for a tie-up with Australian rival Virgin Blue.
Stock exchange operator NZX closed flat at $1.80 after its operational report for April showed trades were up 2 percent due to increased trading activity in debt securities, but the total value traded was down 11 percent.
PGG Wrightson shares were up 2c at 55c, recovering after news that a large parcel of shares owned by Rural Portfolio Investments and Rural Portfolio Capital were among assets put in the hands of receivers.
Shares in home fragrance company Ecoya, which debuted yesterday at the issue price of $1, recovered a cent lost in the meantime to close at $1.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 0.9 percent at 4744.
Earlier in the US, transport stocks had their best day in six months following an industry report that the US manufacturing sector grew in April at its fastest pace in almost six years, and as UAL agreed to buy Continental Airlines to create the world's largest airline.
