A2 Milk recovery helps lift shares

SkyCity Group fell 2.3 per cent to $3.87. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand shares followed A2 Milk's recovery upwards tonight, with Synlait Milk and Comvita also bouncing.

Meanwhile, Metro Performance Glass continued its downward trajectory.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index gained 29.25 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 8083.06. Within the index, 24 stocks rose, 18 fell and eight were unchanged. Turnover was $211 million.

A2 Milk led the index higher, up 6.1 per cent to $8.42. The stock fell as low as $7.45 on Wednesday, and ended the session down 8.4 per cent.

"It's bouncing back up again, and that's certainly underpinning the market", said James Smalley, senior advisor at Hamilton Hindin Greene.

The bulk of the dual-listed stock gets traded in Australia, which has a lot more momentum-based trading "which does tend to mean that the moment momentum turns, it exacerbates movements in both directions", Smalley said.

A2's supplier Synlait, which dropped 6.2 per cent on Wednesday, rose 3.9 per cent to $8, and Comvita gained 1.9 per cent to $8.15, having fallen 6 per cent on Wednesday.

The downside continued for Metro Glass, which fell 3.2 per cent to 91c, a record low.

"The negative momentum in that stock is pretty savage for investors," Smalley said.

"It is relatively thinly traded, so if you get a couple of fund managers trying to sell at the same time it can have a serious effect on the share price."

Skycity Group fell 2.3 per cent to $3.87 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare dropped 1.9 per cent to $13.05.

Outside the benchmark index, Pushpay Holdings had a second strong day, up 4.9 per cent to $3.23, New Zealand King Salmon Investments shares rose 4.9 per cent to a record $2.38, Tilt Renewables rose 1 per cent to $1.96 and Briscoe Group dipped 0.3 per cent to $3.27.