The New Zealand sharemarket ended the year with a sudden fall of more than 1% but it still put in its best performance since 2020.

Contact Energy, listed 25 years ago, reached an all-time high with a rise of nearly 6% as the New Zealand sharemarket staged a late surge to keep the Santa rally rolling.

New Zealand shares, and those offshore, are enjoying the Santa rally, with the local market closing at its second-highest level this year.

The New Zealand sharemarket delivered a mini-Santa rally as it traded above 13,000 points for the second time this month.

The New Zealand sharemarket soon got over the shock of the worse-than-expected gross domestic product data with a rise of more than 1% – on a day dominated by index changes and late heavy trading.

The New Zealand sharemarket tumbled nearly 1% on the revelation that the country was in a deeper recession than expected – and the NZ dollar hit a 15-year low.

Clothing retailer Hallenstein Glasson received its own Christmas present, an all-time high for its share price, while the New Zealand market drifted lower on lighter trade.

A strong bounce from Mercury Energy helped push the New Zealand sharemarket to a near 1% gain – its third successive rise as it closes in on double-digit growth this year.

The New Zealand sharemarket had a late revival all thanks to Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, and is looking ahead to strong leads from crunch economic data and interest rate moves.

The New Zealand sharemarket ended the week positively while leading gentailers Contact and Mercury kept moving in different directions on rumours of MSCI global index changes.

The New Zealand sharemarket slipped more than 0.5%, while telco Spark has now netted $1.2 billion from exiting the mobile towers business.

Transport and logistics company Mainfreight and clothing retailer Hallenstein Glasson led the way as the New Zealand sharemarket bounced back from three consecutive falls.

The New Zealand sharemarket lost momentum in the afternoon and declined 0.6%, while across the Tasman the Reserve Bank has now kept interest rates on hold for a year.

Auckland International Airport again dominated trading on the New Zealand sharemarket as passive investment funds were forced to buy the stock to rebalance their portfolios.

The New Zealand sharemarket fell nearly 2% for the week after having to soak up the $1.3 billion sale of Auckland International Airport shares, with the airport now increasing its influence on the index.

The heavy trading in Auckland International Airport shares captured the attention of the New Zealand sharemarket, while the other stocks had a reasonably quiet day.