New Zealand share prices rose 0.88 percent on Thursday, with leading stocks pulling the broader market up in their wake, dealers said. The benchmark NZX-50 index closed 27.75 points higher at 3,168.94 on turnover worth 137.7 million dollars (101.9 million US). There were 42 falls and 36 rises among the 114 stocks traded. "The top five stocks were up today.
If you've got the top five up, there's a pretty good chance the market's going to be up," said Stuart Hardie, investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners. Telecom rose seven cents to 2.59 dollars, having fallen as low as 2.51 dollars on Wednesday.
Fletcher Building rose eight cents to 8.30 dollars after falling 18 cents on Wednesday. Auckland Airport rose two cents to 1.94 dollars, Contact Energy added nine cents to 5.98 dollars and casino firm Sky City gained a cent to 3.23. Continuing gains in the New Zealand dollar failed to dent most exporters as it closed local trading at 73.99 US cents Thursday, up from 73.40 on Wednesday.