NZ shares climb as rate cut stokes demand for yield stocks; Mercury gains
The S&P/NZX 50 Index advanced 199.09 points, or 1.9 percent, to 10,786.26, recovering all of yesterday's sharp sell-off. Within the index, 45 stocks rose, three fell, and two were unchanged. Turnover was $151.8 million.
The local market jumped after the Reserve Bank cut the official cash rate by 50 basis points to a record low 1 percent, providing more stimulus earlier than economists had anticipated. Asian markets were mixed following Wall Street's recovery overnight as investors remained nervous about the escalating trade tensions between China and the US. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.3 percent in afternoon trading, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 0.7 percent and South Korea's Kospi 200 decreased 0.2 percent.
"After a bit of a rough day yesterday, the market recovered last night and the Reserve Bank came to the party today," said Grant Davies, an investment advisor at Hamilton Hindin Greene.
"The usual suspects took off today - Mercury, in particular, is a favourite, but going down the list it's all those dividend yield stocks and property stocks too."
Click the button below to subscribe and will have free unlimited access for a limited time to full article and all other articles on the site.
You will also be able to comment on articles on Good Returns.
![[Weekly Wrap] KiwiSaver in play; but outcome unclear](https://goodreturns.publit.io/file/c_fill,w_300,h_200/0ad582e4-c9a3-4692-bbe2-62d928f77fd2.jpg)
