NZ sharemarket lifts into positive territory for the year

The S&P/NZX 50 Index lacked commitment for most of the day, bouncing up and down. But in the last 45 minutes of trading, the index staged a half percent turnaround and closed at 11,496.61, up 33.12 points or 0.29%.

It meant the index had made a small 0.2% gain for the year to date after starting the week 0.9% behind.

The day before, the NZ market followed Australia and rose 0.94%. There were 78 gainers and 55 decliners on the main board, with 33.66 million shares worth $110.68m changing hands.

Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said the local market gave back some of the euphoria of the day before. But there’s been a strong bounce since the end of October driven by the sharp fall in US bond yields, which are built into the NZ market.