Profit-takers somewhat spoiled what started as a very promising day for the NZX-50, Forsyth Barr broker Peter Young said yesterday.
The benchmark index was up 82 points in the first 10 minutes of trading before beleaguered investors decided to make the best of a bad thing and started to sell some of their holdings.
The NZX-50 closed up 36 points at 2635 at the end of a frustrating day, he said.
"It was a good day for the market, but well off its high for the day."
In the United States, Wall Street shares skyrocketed as the market cheered a government-private sector plan to clean up toxic assets clogging the balance sheets of banks to help stabilise the United States economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped nearly 500 points (6.8%) to 7775 and the technology-rich Nasdaq leapt nearly 100 points (6.8%) to 1555.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500 improved 54 points (7.1%) to 822.92.
Mr Young said the market welcomed the public-private sector programme by US President Barack Obama's administration to help the ailing banking system recover from huge losses suffered in the US real estate meltdown.
However, the last three weeks had provided some positive news for investments, with the Dow up 16% in the period and the NZX-50 up 12%.
"That's three pretty good weeks on stock markets. Shares have bounced off their lows well and truly."
No-one could blame investors for selling when they had the chance, Mr Young said.
