Trustpower led the market higher, up 3 per cent at $8.25 on a typically small volume of 31,000 shares, though less than half its 90-day average of 71,000. Cornerstone shareholder Infratil was up 1.9 per cent at $4.90, Port of Tauranga advanced 1.1 per cent to $6.47 and Meridian Energy increased 1 per cent to $5.30.
Air New Zealand rose 2.6 per cent to $2.75 after Qantas Airways' Jetstar unit said it planned to withdraw from five unprofitable regional routes in November. The national carrier said it will investigate increasing capacity and keep prices low for those routes.
Air NZ also held its annual meeting, where shareholders approved a multi-billion-dollar purchase of 10 fuel-efficient aircraft in chief executive Chris Luxon's last AGM. The board signalled it will make an announcement on his replacement next month.
Goodson said the Jetstar exit was of marginal benefit to Air New Zealand, with regional routes often struggling to retain more than one carrier.
"Air New Zealand's great strength has been its dominance on those regional routes to feed into its national and international network," he said, adding that it was a bit surprising not to get more of an update on the CEO appointment.
Auckland International Airport increased 0.2 per cent to $9.26.
Spark New Zealand was the most traded stock on a volume of 2.4 million shares, less than its 3.3 million average. It rose 1.2 per cent to $4.545.
Vista Group International fell 0.3 per cent to $3.79 on a volume of 2.4 million shares, more than five times its 428,000 average.
Pushpay Holdings fell 3 per cent to $3.28 on a volume of 1.1 million shares, posting the day's biggest decline.
Of other stocks trading on volumes of more than a million shares, Fletcher Building was unchanged at $5.10, Goodman Property Trust increased 0.5 per cent to $2.18, Kiwi Property Group was unchanged at $1.65, and Oceania Healthcare was unchanged at $1.02.
Z Energy fell 2.5 per cent to $5.50 as the Commerce Commission's conference on the fuel market study wrapped up its second day. Courier company Freightways fell 0.6 per cent to $8.10 and Mainfreight was down 0.5 per cent at $39.75.
Outside the benchmark index, Abano Healthcare hit a six-month high and ended the day up 8.9 per cent at $4.67 after confirming it has two offers. One, confirmed by ASX-listed 1300 Smiles, is for Abano's Australian Maven Dental chain, while the other - reportedly by BGH Capital - is for the whole business.
Warehouse Group climbed 6.1 per cent to $2.45, a two-and-a-half-year high. It reported a 26 per cent increase in adjusted profit and the board declared its biggest dividend in five years as a long-term transformation programme starts to bear fruit.
Tower dropped 6.2 per cent to 68 cents, adding to yesterday's 5.8 per cent slide. The insurer is selling $47.2m of shares at 56 cents apiece to fund a $13m acquisition of Youi NZ's 34,000 policies, and to strengthen its balance sheet.
The Reserve Bank kept the official cash rate at 1 per cent today, in line with expectations, although the commentary by the policy committee was not as dovish as some had anticipated.
The central government's 2023 bond paying annual interest of 5.5 per cent was the most traded debt security on a volume of 2.2 million. The notes closed at a yield of 0.79 per cent, down 12 basis points. The government's 2021 bonds paying 6 per cent were the second most traded on a volume of 1.2 million. Those notes closed at 0.82 per cent, down 4 basis points.
Trustpower's 2022 bonds paying 4.01 per cent closed at 2.37 per cent, up 2 basis points, on a volume of 1 million.
