Dividend yield stocks again dominate sharemarket trading

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 67.3 points, or 0.7 percent, to a record 9,766.19. Within the index, 30 stocks gained, 15 fell, and five were unchanged. Turnover was $102.1 million.

Swap rates hit new lows today, following the Reserve Bank's unexpected adoption of a bias to cut the official cash rate. The low-rate environment continued to support the attraction of companies that pay reliable and sustainable dividends, such as utilities and property investors.

"Companies with predictable dividends that are resilient during periods when the economy's being challenged are all performing very well," said Mark Lister, head of private wealth research at Craigs Investment Partners. "That's what you'd expect given what we saw from central banks around the world and here yesterday."

Trustpower led the market higher, up 2.8 percent at $6.61 on a volume of 551,000 shares, almost 10-times the 63,000 three-monthly average. Genesis hit a record $3.22, ending the day at $3.195, up 2.4 percent on a volume of 948,000 shares, almost three times its 90-day average.