NZ shares gain as investors eye rate cut change; Sky TV, Port of Tauranga gain

The S&P/NZX 50 index gained 34.86 points, or 0.4 percent, to 9,292.15. Within the index, 32 stocks gained, 14 fell and four were unchanged. Turnover was $124.4 million.

Traders are pricing in a 50 percent chance New Zealand's Reserve Bank will cut the official cash rate in an effort to lift inflation. Low interest rates have been a long-standing support for the domestic market, where investors can find relatively stable returns from the likes of utilities and property investment firms. Earnings season affirmed the relatively benign outlook for local companies, while the global economy remains well supported by rapid growth in the US, notwithstanding geopolitical ructions.

"We've got potential for a rate cut" with the global economy in "pretty reasonable shape" which is "buoying the market," said Grant Davies, an investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene in Christchurch."We find ourselves in this situation where people are expecting the worst is about to happen because it's been so long since things have gone wrong."

Sky TV led the market higher, rising 3.6 percent to $2.28, as it bounced back for a second day after a 19 percent decline through the tail-end of August.