Easton said he doesn't expect the flow to abate any time soon, and may continue for the next 12 to 18 months or even longer, given New Zealanders historically had a lot of money in term deposits and the banks.
Westpac Banking Corp rose 2.5 per cent to $32.65 and ANZ Banking Group edged up 0.04 per cent to $26.68, as Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index rose.
Ryman Healthcare rose 1.8 per cent to $9.79 and Summerset Group gained 0.2 per cent to $4.74, while Metlifecare slipped 0.3 per cent to $5.89.
A2 Milk tumbled 9.1 per cent to $1.40 and was the biggest decliner on the index. "A2 and the health-related stocks have had a fantastic run but sentiment is changing, sometimes daily," Easton said. Some investors "are taking some money off the table because they have done so well".
NZX was unchanged at $1.02 after releasing its shareholder metrics for May, showing the volume of trades in the cash markets jumped 39 per cent last month while the value of trading surged 46 per cent from May last year to $4.3 billion. Coats Group, the UK-based thread-maker left after diversified investor Guinness Peat Group sold its other assets, was unchanged at 61c after announcing it is buying an industrial yarns business and a software company servicing the apparel industry for as much as US$45 million including earn-outs.
Synlait Milk rose about 1 per cent to $3.08 after the Canterbury-based milk processor said it plans to pay farmer suppliers $4.50 per kilogram of milk solids for the 2016/17 season, up from $3.90/kgMS for the 2015/16 season and above Fonterra's $4.25/kgMS forecast.
While Synlait was paying more than the market for milk, it was still low historically and as an input cost reduction that should flow through into high profits, Easton said.
Fonterra Shareholders' Fund fell 2.3 per cent to $5.57.
Among other stocks, Ebos Group fell 2.7 per cent to $16.35, Air New Zealand dropped 3.2 per cent to $2.14 and Sky Network Television declined 3.9 per cent to $4.47.
Steel & Tube Holdings fell 2.5 per cent to $1.92.