New Zealand share prices rose 0.43 percent on Monday, helped higher by gains in blue chip Fletcher Building, dealers said. The benchmark NZX-50 index closed 13.72 points higher at 3,220.92 on turnover worth 71.2 million dollars (53.0 million US). There were 54 rises and 31 falls among the 116 stocks traded.
Fletcher Building rose 18 cents to 8.35 dollars on strong volume. "They had the investor trip last week and there seems to be good momentum in the stock that has followed on from that," said Peter Sigley of Goldman Sachs JBWere. There was also interest in the launch of a share issue by outdoor clothing company Kathmandu, which will list on both the Australian and New Zealand sharemarkets.
Telecom fell two cents to 2.48 dollars, Auckland International Airport dropped a cent to 2.00, Contact Energy rose five cents to 6.25 and Trust Power added two cents to 7.50.