NZ shares up as dollar weakens on OCR track, Pushpay, Skycity gain

The S&P/NZX50 Index rose 68.1 points, or 0.77 percent, to 8,940.19. Within the index, 33 stocks rose, nine fell and eight were unchanged. Turnover was $95 million.

This morning, Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr kept the official cash rate at 1.75 percent. That was widely expected, but Orr also said he now expects to keep rates on hold into 2020, at least a year longer than previously thought, and reiterated the next move could be up or down.

"The RB statement was certainly one of the key focal points of the day and it has seen the currency weaken quite sharply against the US and Australian dollars, and an element of the market today is that, although not entirely - there's a randomness in order flow driving some of it," said Matt Goodson, managing director at Salt Funds Management. "Certainly names that do tend to move on a Kiwi/Aussie dollar have moved, like Fletcher Building and other names with offshore earnings - Fisher and Paykel Healthcare is up, Pushpay is up after a few very weak days, NZ Refining is a big beneficiary of a weaker kiwi dollar."

Pushpay Holdings - which operates in the US, where its payment app targets the church giving sector - was the best performer, up 3.1 percent to $3.64. Fletcher Building rose 2.4 percent to $6.98, New Zealand Refining rose 2.1 percent to $2.48 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare gained 1 percent to $14.77.