NZ shares rise as blue chips rally into holiday period; Spark gains
The S&P/NZX 50 index increased 10 points, or 0.1 percent, to 8,772.19. Within the index, 21 stocks gained, 24 fell and five were unchanged. Turnover was $146.8 million.
Blue-chip stocks led the market higher, with a number acknowledging the appearance of global exchange-traded fund manager Vanguard as a substantial shareholder this week. Trading is expected to thin out ahead of the holiday period, where abbreviated trading and shortened weeks typically support what's called a 'Santa rally'.
Bryon Burke, head of equities dealers at Craigs Investment Partners, said New Zealand outperformed markets in Asia Pacific today and is the best performing benchmark index across the region this year, up 4.5 percent so far.
"That's borne out by our overall yearly performance to date, which looks like it is going to hold firm with a positive return while most other markets are going to be negative for the calendar year," Burke said.
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