Musk’s Twitter buy boosts local tech stocks; Air NZ takes off

New Zealand's sharemarket rose as eccentric billionaire Elon Musk’s Twitter buy boosted demand for local tech stocks, while Air NZ’s tradeable rights took off.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 68.2 points, or 0.6%, 12,121.39. Turnover was moderate, with $124.6 million traded across the main board.

Air NZ continued to dominate the headlines as investors struggled to get to grips with the $1.2 billion capital raising, prompting the stock market operator’s NZ RegCo arm to send out a note explaining the nature of the tradeable rights. The shares rose 5% to 95 cents on a bigger volume than usual of 5.4m shares, while the rights jumped 53.1% to 75c.

Peter McIntyre, an investment adviser at Craigs Investment Partners, said Air NZ “tested the mathematical minds of many” over the last few days and was trading higher today.