KEY POINTS:
Another strong session for market leader Telecom helped boost New Zealand shares to a six-week high.
Following a mildly positive start, the NZSX-50 Index closed up 37.34 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 4175.29. Turnover totalled $138.6 million.
Rises outnumbered falls 64 to 28.
"We are seeing some institutional buying in this market, and that's following I think the start of the new financial year," Hamilton Hindin Greene partner Grant Williamson said.
Telecom rose 9c to 492, nearly matching yesterday's 2 per cent gain. The stock is rising on hopes of a decent return to shareholders following last week's sale of its Yellow Pages division for $2.2 billion.
"We really did expect this improvement, maybe up to the 500c level, on expectations there'd be a reasonable payout come May," Mr Williamson said.
Contact Energy remained at record highs, closing up 2c at 925, and Fletcher Building gained a healthy 11c to 1111.
Air New Zealand continued its recovery, having returned to favour after paying a special dividend earlier this year. The stock hit a three-year high, closing up 7c at 245.
"I think investors like what they see in the management of the company and the direction it's currently taking, in particular their long-haul. They seem to have a virtual monopoly on the domestic market and it looks like their international operations are now starting to perform quite well at the same time," Mr Williamson said.
Also in the tourism sector, Auckland Airport was at a record high, up 2c at 248, and Tourism Holdings was up 3c at 228, near its recent six-year high.
"The tourist sector doesn't really seem to be too affected by the high New Zealand dollar, which is probably a wee bit surprising, but it just makes you wonder what they can do when the NZ dollar eventually comes down," he said.
Ryman Healthcare rose 5c to 236.
"It's considered to be quite a defensive stock in a defensive sector, a well-managed company."
Utilities investor Infratil, also in a defensive business, rose 15c to 585, while its generation asset TrustPower was flat at 830.
Michael Hill gained 10c to 930, Mainfreight built on yesterday's gains to rise a further 9c to 759, and The Warehouse was up 2c at 677.
Sky City was up a cent at 475, and Sky TV gained 5c to 546.
- NZPA