The New Zealand share market was up today, defying the downward trend seen in other Asia Pacific markets.

The NZX50 index was up 0.4 per cent or 14.11 points to 3478.84. Yet the S&P ASX 200 index in Australia was down 0.1 per cent, Japan's Nikkei 225 had fallen 0.5 per cent, the Hong Kong Hang Seng index was down 0.3 per cent and South Korea's Kospi fell 0.25 per cent.

Within the NZX index, 22 stocks rose, 17 fell and 11 were unchanged.

"The New Zealand stock market has had a pretty good performance given the backdrop of most other markets, the Asian and Australian markets all being down. We had a good day although volumes are still pretty scant," Forsyth Barr broker David Price said.

"There was not much in the way of news today but there were some good performances out of the likes of Auckland Airport, Freightways and Sky TV. But again, we're coming into company update season where they will start to count the numbers.

"The mood of investors is a bit ho-hum at the moment because markets are just flatlining, there is no news to drive markets at the moment."

Auckland Airport rose 1.65 per cent to $2.47, Freightways was up 1.55 per cent to $3.93 and Sky Network Television rose 1.6 per cent to $4.99.

Restaurant Brands, the operator behind KFC and Pizza Hutt fast food chains, rose 1.9 per cent to $2.15. OceanaGold rose 1.7 per cent to $2.35.

Australian food ingredient maker Goodman Fielder rose 1.5 per cent to 69c. DNZ Property Fund was up 1.4 per cent to $1.48. New Zealand Oil & Gas rose 1.2 per cent to 84c. Casino and hotels operator SkyCity Entertainment rose 1.2 per cent to $3.44.

The leading decliner was would-be bank Heartland, down 3.8 per cent to 51c. Rural services company PGG Wrightson fell 3.1 per cent to 31c. Australian wealth manager AMP was down 1.6 per cent to $4.82.

Retailer The Warehouse fell 1.6 per cent to $2.51. Mainfreight, the international trucking and logistics company, was down 1.55 per cent to $9.54. Markets operator NZX Limited fell 1.5 per cent to $1.31.

Insurer Tower was down 1.3 per cent to $1.57. Nuplex, the industrial chemicals and resins maker, was down 1.2 per cent to $2.53. Investment holding company Guinness Peat Group was down 1.1 per cent to 45c. Trade Me Group was down 0.8 per cent to $3.70.

- © Fairfax NZ News