Optimistic outlook pushes stocks higher

Spark advanced 28 per cent to $3.26. Photo / Greg Bowker

New Zealand shares rose, led by Diligent Corp after it announced an acquisition. Mighty River Power, Freightways, Spark New Zealand gained on upbeat sentiment for New Zealand equities and the wider economy.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 60.66 points, or 1 per cent, to 5895.49. Within the index, 37 stocks rose, 10 fell and three were unchanged. Turnover was $189 million.

Diligent climbed 4 per cent to an eight-month high of $5.93. The company has acquired BoardLink from financial services firm Thomson Reuters for US$10 million in cash to widen its portfolio of products aimed at company directors.

"It is a very good bolt-on acquisition and it adds to their business and more importantly their customer base," said Mark Lister, head of private wealth research at Craigs Investment Partners. "That's been taken well."

The benchmark rose in broad-based buying, as investors sought dividend paying equities in the face of interest rates staying low for longer. Meanwhile, increasingly upbeat sentiment over the local economy, where dairy prices are improving, added to demand for Kiwi stocks.

"Rates certainly aren't going anywhere - they're probably not going down at the next Reserve Bank meeting but that is a matter of time, and they're certainly not going up," Lister said. "The economic mood in New Zealand is reasonably upbeat at the moment - dairy prices have rebounded and some of the concern about what the dairy sector might face has disappeared a little bit. Some of those global uncertainties subside for the time being."

Freightways gained 3.3 per cent to $5.65. Mighty River Power, rose 2.5 per cent to $2.65. Spark advanced 2.8 per cent to $3.26. Meridian Energy gained 1.8 per cent to $2.21. Ryman Healthcare gained 2.6 per cent to $7.80.

Genesis Energy advanced 1.1 per cent to $1.86 after the energy generator and retailer said it has seen growth in electricity sales in the first three months of the new financial year after the country's biggest electricity and gas retailer halted a slide in customers in the face of "aggressive" competition. The company's total customers rose 0.1 per cent to 652,523 in the three months ended September 30, from a year earlier.

Goodman Property Trust was unchanged at $1.20. The property investor has completed its refinancing for the year with a new $157 million debt facility for Wynyard Precinct Holdings - its joint venture with Singapore Government-owned GIC.

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group was the worst performer on the benchmark index, falling 1.6 per cent to $30.30, while Westpac Banking Corp declined 1.5 per cent to $32.95.

Fletcher Building fell 1.2 per cent to $7.16.