The New Zealand sharemarket turned into the Easter bunny, handing out useful gains to most of the leading stocks in buoyant trading.

The S&P/NZX 50 Index continued to rise throughout the day, closing near the intraday high at 12,560.70 – up 113.93 points or 0.92 per cent.

There were 97 gainers and just 40 decliners over the whole market of 185 stocks, and volume was strong with 63.65 million share transactions worth $331.7 million as fund managers were actively buying and rebalancing their portfolios at the end of the March 31 quarter.

Market leader Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, up 3c to $32.10, dominated the trading with $61.86m worth of its shares changing hands.

Dan Stratful, investment adviser with Forsyth Barr, said the market has certainly bottomed and will continue to trend higher.

“There’s a sea of green price movements across the board following on from the positive lead in Australia. The cyclical stocks such as the ports and airports are starting to perform,” Stratful said.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index across the Tasman was also in a happy Easter mood, rising 1.43 per cent to 6834.50 points (at 5.45pm NZ time).

Port of Tauranga climbed 25c or 3.35 per cent to $7.71, and Napier Port increased 1c to $3.39 as cargo again flowed freely through the Suez Canal. But Northport owner Marsden Maritime Holdings fell 16c or 2.56 per cent to $6.10; and South Port New Zealand, which operates the Bluff port, was down 10c to $9.10.

Mainfreight swept past the $69 mark, rising $1.45 or 2.13 per cent to $69.40; Ebos Group increased 26c to $29.46; Freightways collected 20c or 1.8 per cent to $11.30; Skellerup Holdings was up 9c or 2.16 per cent to $4.26; Chorus recovered 10c to $7.08; and Infratil gained 12.5c or 1.79 per cent to $7.125.

Auckland International Airport was up 17c or 2.22 per cent to $7.84, while Air New Zealand rose 3c or 1.79 per cent to $1.71.

Mercury was this time the stand-out amongst the energy stocks, climbing 30c or 4.84 per cent to $6.50. Meridian gained 4.5c to $5.39; Contact was up 9c to $7.01; and Genesis increased 4.5c to $3.49.

Leading retirement village stocks Ryman Healthcare was up 22c to $15.30, and Summerset Group Holdings rose 13c to $12.15.

Other gainers were PGG Wrightson, up 12c or 3.61 per cent to $3.44; Vista Group gaining 8c or 3.77 per cent to $2.20; EROAD increasing 15c or 3.49 per cent to $4.45; AFT Pharmaceuticals climbing 15c or 3.13 per cent to $4.95; and ikeGPS Group up 5c or 5.26 per cent to $1.

The “struggling sisters” a2 Milk and Synlait had positive days. Synlait increased 6c or 1.79 per cent to $3.41, and a2 Milk – a major shareholder in Synlait and its main customer – gained 8c to $8.62. It was $14.20 on November 4.

Amongst the decliners, Spark lost 8c or 1.75 per cent to $4.48; Seeka shed 19c or 3.73 per cent to $4.90; Turners Automotive declined 3c to $3.42; and Scott Technology decreased 7c or 3.37 per cent to $2.01.

Cancer diagnostics company Pacific Edge rose 2c or 2.02 per cent to $1.01 after telling the market that the California-based Facey Medical Group, with more 170,000 patients, will be using its Cxbladder detect and monitor devices.

Me Today has signed a distribution agreement in Ireland (through Uniphar Wholesale) and a retail partnership with Australian Adore Beauty Group for its natural skincare products and supplements. Me Today’s share price rose 0.005c or 6.41 per cent to 8.3c.

New Zealand King Salmon Investments, the world’s largest producer of premium salmon species, reported a 6 per cent fall in revenue to $95.2m and net loss of $7.08m for the seven months ending January. It harvested 4880 metric tonnes of King salmon, 36 per cent of its exports go to North America, and its share price slipped 2c to $1.50.

Private Land and Property Fund has had a $922,000 property revaluation primarily from its kiwifruit orchard in Northland and its net asset value has increased 1.44 per cent. Its share price increased 1.3c to $1073.

Dual-listed childcare operator Evolve Education Group, price $1.27, went into a trading halt to raise up to $24m to expand in Australia – it has a target of increasing its number of centres from 20 to 30 by the end of the year.

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