NZ shares gains in heavy trading on quarterly index reweighting

The S&P/NZX 50 Index increased 36.53 points, or 0.4 percent, to 10,327.29. Within the index, 35 stocks rose, 11 stocks fell, and four were unchanged. Turnover was $294.7 million. Of that, A2 Milk accounted for $34.6 million, Contact Energy $31.4 million, and Spark New Zealand $26.9 million.

Some 62.1 million shares changed hands, about twice the 30.5 million 90-day average, with investors reworking their portfolios to cater to the quarterly rebalance of the S&P/NZX Indices and FTSE Russell. NZX extended the adjustment period by 15 minutes to cater for the heightened activity.

David Price, a broker at Forsyth Barr, said most investors were waiting for the index reweightings at the end of the day.

"The market's just marking time ahead of what will be a relatively large change," he said before trading closed.