Serko also performed well, rallying 7.0 per cent. The corporate travel services provider likely benefitted from travel stocks in the US making gains in the previous session.
Rounding out the leader board was Pushpay Holdings, reversing some of its losses on Tuesday, closing 5.3 per cent higher yesterday.
Only three stocks in the NZX 50 closed lower in Wednesday's session, with Arvida Group decreasing the most, down 1.5 per cent. The retirement village operator advised the market yesterday that "the strike price for the dividend investment plan, operating in respect of the dividend payable on Wednesday, 15 December 2021, has been set at $1.9182 per share", applying a 2.0 per cent discount in the calculations.
Next in line was film software company Vista Group International, declining 1.3 per cent, followed by Contact Energy, down 0.1 per cent.
International Markets:
US:
US equities were largely flat at the time of writing, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average trading 0.1 and 0.2 per cent lower. The Nasdaq was up 0.3 per cent following a two-day rebound.
Communication services and materials were the top performers, up 0.6 and 0.4 per cent, respectively.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings rose 9.3 per cent, Carnival Corp gained 7.0 per cent, and Royal Caribbean Cruises increased 6.1 per cent - all of which are travel stocks recovering from declines in November and a volatile start to December.
Consumer staples and financials fell 1.0 and 0.4 per cent.
NXP Semiconductors NV fell 5.1 per cent.
Food retailer Kroger declined by 4.0 per cent, easing off gains made earlier in the month when the company raised its forecasts citing new cooking skills and larger holiday gatherings as boosting demand for groceries.
Spirit and wine company Brown-Forman lost 3.5 per cent.
Rest of the World Markets:
Asian indices were up overnight with the Hang Seng trading higher by 0.1 per cent, the Shanghai Composite gaining 1.2 per cent, and the Nikkei rising 1.4 per cent.
Commodities:
In commodities this morning, gold was flat at US$1,784.40 per ounce. WTI crude oil strengthened, now priced 1.1 per cent higher at US$72.90 per barrel.
The US 10-year bond is now four basis points higher at 1.52 per cent.
In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin was flat at US$50,445.81 and Ethereum was up 2.5 per cent to US$4,391.50.
Australian Markets:
Australian equities traded higher again at yesterday's close, with the S&P/ASX 200 finishing the day at 7405 points, up 1.3 per cent.
Outperforming sectors included technology and materials, which made gains of 2.2 and 2.0 per cent respectively.
Sector gains were buoyed by impressive performances from both payment services provider Zip Co (+10.9 per cent) and healthcare products company Mesoblast (+10.0 per cent).
Zip Co pushed higher to lead the market on two consecutive days, up 9.9 per cent on Tuesday following positive November transaction volumes, while Wednesday's gains could be attributed to the appointment of former Deliveroo executive Levi Aron as the company's Chief Growth Officer for its US operations.
Mesoblast's run was on the back of an update from the company, highlighting the success of one of its new treatments, the Rexlemestrocel-L therapy, which was recently found to be a potential treatment against chronic heart failure.
No sectors made a loss during Wednesday's vibrant trading session.
Against the run of play, insurance broker Steadfast fell 4.0 per cent amid the company entering into a syndicated facility agreement to take on A$660m in debt, reducing shareholders' claims to future business cash flow. Steadfast was joined by medical device company Polynovo (-2.7 per cent), and Orora Ltd (-2.3 per cent), which rounded out the single stock underperformers on the day.
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