New Zealand shares joined a global rally after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell indicated an early pause to higher interest rates, stoking demand for growth stocks such as Pushpay Holdings.
The S&P/NZX 50 index rose 80.92 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 8,794.88. Within the index, 34 stocks gained, 10 fell, and six were unchanged. Turnover was $111.1 million.
Pushpay led the index higher, up 5.3 per cent to $3.39 on twice its average volume. Tech stocks were buoyed by Powell's comments last night with the Nasdaq up 3 per cent.
Greg Smith, head of research at Fat Prophets, said the Fed's stance was markedly different to just a few months ago in assessing monetary policy to be just below neutral. That supported stock markets around the world heading into the G20 leaders' meeting this weekend.
"Risk appetite came back and there was a big bounce in the Nasdaq last night," he said. "That would be good for companies like Pushpay."