Oct. 11--A rise in shares of Vonage Holdings Corp. helped to fuel a nearly 4 percent rally in the Asbury Park Press/Bloomberg 75 index last week.

The index, made of 75 companies either based at the Shore or with a significant presence in New Jersey, closed at 107.21 on Friday, up 4.10, or 3.98 percent. The index has gained 11.35 percent this year.

Seventy-one companies gained while four declined.

Holmdel-based Vonage saw the largest rise by percentage, closing at $1.65, up 33 cents, or 25 percent.

Last week, Vonage unveiled an application for the iPhone and BlackBerry, aiming it at users who make international calls.

The free downloadable application for the iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones gives users the ability to make international calls to more than 200 countries. Holmdel-based Vonage says the service saves customers more than 50 percent on calls to dozens of countries versus rates charged by other wireless carriers.

Other companies that saw big gains by percentage were: Red Bank-based Hovnanian Enterprises, $4.23, up 73 cents, or 20.9 percent; Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co, $9.91, up $1.31, or 15.2 percent; OceanFirst Financial Corp. Inc., $12.43, up $1.35, or 12.2 percent; Gannett Co. Inc., owner of the Asbury Park Press, $13.60, up $1.76, or 14.9 percent; and Alcatel-Lucent, $4.70, up 51 cents, or 12.2 percent.

OceanFirst Financial Corp.'s $68.4 million purchase of Central Jersey Bancorp now needs regulatory approval after both banks said last week that shareholders approved the deal.

Once approvals are complete, it will create a bank with $2.5 billion in assets and $1.7 billion in deposits, making it the sixth-biggest bank at the Shore.

The four stocks that declined last week were: AT&T Inc., $25.66, down 86 cents, or 3.24 percent; A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts, $3.84, down 11 cents, or 2.78 percent; Verizon Communications Inc., $29.16, down 73 cents, or 2.44 percent; Avis Budget Group Inc., $12.12, down 5 cents, or 0.41 percent.

Last week AT&T said it would allow Internet call applications on the iPhone.

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