At 5pm local time, Asian markets were trading higher, with Australia's S&P/ASX 200 up 0.3 per cent, Japan's Nikkei 400 up 0.7 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.8 per cent.
Spark New Zealand rose 3.5 per cent to $3.57 and has gained 6.2 per cent this week.
"It has had a couple of good days, admittedly volumes haven't been huge, but maybe it's the appeal of the dividend post result," Smalley said. "Obviously there's some further action going on with the 'third telco' in New Zealand, Vocus. A number of their assets are on the block, and that might be seen as a bit of a positive for Spark."
Comvita was the worst performer, down 2.9 per cent, while Scales Corp fell 1.8 per cent to $4.50 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare dropping 1.7 per cent to $12.98.
Trade Me Group gained 1.4 per cent to $4.39. The Commerce Commission today announced it had rejected Trade Me's purchase of rival auto marketplace Motorcentral, saying it couldn't rule out the tie-up undermining competition in the market.
The antitrust regulator turned down Trade Me's clearance to acquire Christchurch-based Limelight Software after almost eight months of reviewing the application. Wellington-based Trade Me wanted to run Limeight's Motorcentral as a standalone business, while also letting dealers upload their listings to a range of websites including Autotrader, Driven, and Trade Me Motors.