Market commentaries

WELLINGTON: New Zealand shares rose for a third day as the Reserve Bank’s rate cut provided another tailwind to the stock market. Vista Group International hit a record.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 41.3 points, or 0.4%, to 10,104.35. Within the index, 24 stocks gained, 15 fell and 11 were unchanged. Turnover was $202.8 million.

The local market outperformed the rest of the AsiaPacific region, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index and Thailand’s SET Index were the only other bourses in positive territory today. The central bank’s cut to the official cash rate on Wednesday spurred investors to buy stocks, where they can achieve higher returns than fixed income assets.

‘‘[Wednesday] we saw an intraday swing in the market after a poor start and that’s continued into [yesterday],’’ Grant Davies, an investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene, said.

‘‘We’ve got funds falling off the bond maturities coming up, KiwiSaver balances that keep going up, so the rate cut is just another tailwind out there for the market.’’

The rate cut pushed the kiwi dollar below US66c for the first time since October, boosting the value of local firms’ export receipts.

Vista, which derives most of its revenue overseas, led the market higher, up 5.2% at $5.50 on a volume of 2.4 million shares.

Pushpay Holdings was the most traded stock on a volume of 5.7 million shares, more than 10 times its 398,000 average. The shares rose 1.6% to $3.77, recovering some of Wednesday’s decline when it reported an annual profit and said founder Chris Heaslip was resigning as chief executive.

Spark rose 0.6% to $3.645 on a volume of 4.7 million shares, while Kiwi Property Group was unchanged at $1.535 on a volume of 2.9 million shares. Meridian Energy increased 0.8% to $4.28 on a volume of 2.3 million shares.

Fletcher Building posted the biggest decline, down 4% at $5.06 on a volume of 1.1 million shares, in line with its 90day average. A2 Milk Co slipped 1.5% to $16.07 with 475,000 shares changing hands, less than its 801,000 average.

Tilt Renewables, which is controlled by Infratil and Mercury, declined 0.4% to $2.35 after annual profit was in line with expectations. The board decided to retain earnings for future projects rather than pay a dividend this half.

Chorus’s 2028 bonds paying 4.35% annual interest were the most traded debt security with 1.9 million notes changing hands. The yield was down 1 basis point at 3.54%. Chorus shares rose 1.5% to $6.23.

Meridian’s 2023 bonds paying 4.53%, traded at a yield of 2.68%, down 9 basis points on a volume of 1.1 million notes. That’s the lowest yield since it listed in March 2016.

A Australian shares finished higher despite weakness in the mining sector, as investors watched the USChina trade talks for a chance of a deal.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 26.2 points, or 0.42%, to 6295.3 points yesterday, while the broader All Ordinaries was up 25.5 points, or 0.4%, to 6377.3.

‘‘Basically the market is holding on to some gains,’’ CommSec market analyst Steven Daghlian said. ‘‘It has been quite a volatile week so far.’’ The 26point gain reversed Wednesday’s 26point loss.

With the US scheduled to more than double tariffs on China today unless a trade deal is reached, investors are looking at possible outcomes carefully, Mr Daghlian said.

More than seven out of 10 shares traded higher yesterday, but the mining sector sank lower, down 0.28% collectively.

BHP was down 0.54% to $36.98 and Rio Tinto fell 0.63% to $95.35. Telstra gained 2.74% to $3.38 after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said a day earlier that two of its rivals, Vodafone and TPG, should not be allowed to merge.

Three of the four big banks were in the green, with Commonwealth up 0.58% to $75.17, NAB up 0.35% to $25.91 and ANZ up 0.22% to $27.65.

Westpac fell 0.29% to $27.06. — AAP