NZ shares rise with Aussie market

The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 75.42 points, or 0.6 percent, to 11,898.26. Within the index, 26 stocks rose, 16 fell and eight were unchanged. Turnover was $108 million.

The Australian federal government announced on Sunday it would pay out a further A$1.2 billion to subsidise the wages of apprentices. The new money means a total of A$5 billion has been allocated to skills training since the outbreak.

The new fiscal stimulus buoyed investor sentiment together with the news President Trump, who was taken to a military hospital on Friday after testing positive for covid-19, could be discharged as early as tomorrow.

“The ASX is bouncing back on the more positive headlines out of the US — bank stocks are trading higher today although they had a weak period last week,” said Chris Smith, general manager of CMC Markets NZ.