Wellington, July 27 NZPA - The New Zealand sharemarket maintained its upward momentum with style today as leading shares posted gains ahead of the profit reporting season.

AMP Capital, which has $1 billion invested in this market, last week talked of a "genuine bounce" in the market but stopped short of calling the recovery the start of a bull market.

The NZSX-50 index closed up 36.835 points, or 1.244 percent, at 2998.008 today.

The index has risen for ten consecutive days, posting a 8.7 percent gain in that time.

Turnover today was worth $95 million. There were 51 rises and 23 falls among the 107 stocks traded.

"There was some good buying amongst our blue chips today. All the big ones are up," said Grant Williamson at Hamilton, Hindin, Greene.

Telecom rose 6c to 286 and Fletcher Building rose 2c to 729.

AMP Capital today disclosed a 5.425 percent stake in Fisher and Paykel Appliances. The stock rose 3c, or 3.61 percent, to 86, and has risen from 67c two weeks ago. The healthcare stock rose 9c to 319.

Pyne Gould Corp traded as low as 158 today but recovered to close unchanged at 175. Brokers cited uncertainty about a capital raising. Commentator Brian Gaynor highlighted issues of transfer of assets and control in the NZ Herald newspaper on Saturday.

PGG Wrightson eased 2c to 96. NZ Farming Systems Uruguay fell 2c to 46.

NZ Refining rose 15c to 765 after it was reported on Friday that US refiner Valero is looking at the company at a time when major oil company shareholders are considering exiting.

Guinness Peat Group rose 5c, or 7 percent, to 76.

SkyCity rose 3c to 313, Auckland Airport rose 2c to 174 and TrustPower rose 10c to 780. Contact rose 5c to 525.

Sanford, which is buying marine farms in the Marlborough Sounds from Sealord for $23.4m, rose 5c to 525.

The Warehouse rose 4c to 389 and Mainfreight rose 10c to 445.

Tourism Holdings eased 2c to 46 and Hellaby eased 4c to 121. Rakon eased 3c to 142. Port of Tauranga eased 3c to 640 and NZOG eased 1c to 162.

Hallenstein Glassons rose 5c to 265 and SkyTV rose 2c to 436.

In the US on Friday, the Nasdaq fell, halting a 12-day run-up, following Microsoft Corp's disappointing quarterly results.

Gains in pharmaceutical and energy shares lifted the Dow and the S&P 500 to fresh eight-month closing highs.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.3 percent to 9093.24, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index advanced 0.3 percent to 979.26, but the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.4 percent to 1965.96.

All three major US stock indexes scored a second straight weekly advance, with the Dow rising 4 percent, the S&P 500 gaining 4.1 percent and the Nasdaq climbing 4.2 percent.