Market close: NZ shares gain; ANZ, banks shrug off capital requirements

New Zealand shares rallied as Australia & New Zealand Banking Group and Westpac Banking Corp shrugged off Australian regulatory requirements to hold more capital and offshore investors saw value in a market that has lagged global peers in recent days.

The NZX50 Index rose 41.444 points, or 0.9%, to 4722.635. Within the index, 33 stocks rose, 11 fell and six were unchanged. Turnover was $93 million.

ANZ Bank rose 1.8% to $34.62 on the NZX and Westpac gained 2.1% to $34.70.

Australia's banking regulator said that nation's four largest banks, which include ANZ and Westpac, will need to carry an extra 1% of core tier 1 capital from Jan. 1, 2016.

"It hasn't seen a massive impact on the market," said Greg Easton, an adviser at Craigs Investment Partners. "It isn't that severe a regulation to implement."

A2 Corp led gainers, rising 6.7% to 80 cents.

Hallenstein Glasson Holdings rose 4.5% to $3.70, leading some retailers higher after Paymark said spending in the first three weeks of December was 6.9% up on the same period last year, suggesting retailers may be in for a strong Christmas.

Michael Hill International rose 3.7% to $1.41 and Kathmandu rose about 3% to $3.48. Warehouse Group slipped 0.5% to $3.65.

Among market heavyweights, Fletcher Building rose 1.8% to $8.54 and Telecom rose 1.3% to $2.34. Auckland International Airport gained 2% to $3.55.

"There's been a few people looking to pick up a bargain," Mr Easton said. "We've lagged the rest of the world."

Guinness Peat Group fell 1.7% to 58.5 cents after saying the UK Pensions Regulator had issued warning notices over two of its pension plans.

Chorus, the network operator, fell 1.4% to $1.445 after the Commerce Commission said in its latest benchmarking report that prices for a combined package of broadband and phone services have fallen over the past two years but remain higher than the OECD average, while so-called naked broadband prices are now below OECD peers.

Summerset Group rose 0.6% to $3.25 after the retirement village operator named Housing NZ's chief financial officer named Scott Scoullar as its CFO.

New Zealand Oil & Gas was unchanged at 80 cents after taking an interest in an Indonesian prospect.

(BusinessDesk)