After witnessing a drop yesterday, New Zealand saw a surge in its shares today.

Grant Williamson, Director at Hamilton, Hindin Greene, said, "It was a good performance by the local market considering there were flat performances offshore".

Telecom rose 3c to 224, while Fletcher Building increased 3c to 813, taking the index up.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare gained 2c to 331.

"It is confirmation that Fisher & Paykel Healthcare is staying ahead of the pack when it comes to research and development and investors like that", said Mr. Williamson.

Michael Hill increased 2c to 73 and Hellaby Holdings that owns retailers, was up 3c to 168.

After reporting a surge in sales revenue by 7.3%, retailer Briscoe Group's shares were up 2c today to 137.

While Mainfreight swelled 5c to 612, Port of Tauranga went up by 5c to 695. Carpet Company, Cavalier also saw a surge 3c to 278.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 11.86 points, or 0.11%, to end at 10,564.38, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index increased 1.95 points, or 0.17% at 1140.45, the Nasdaq Composite Index surged 8.47 points, 0.36%, at
2340.68.