Stocks in Asia and the Pacific rose again on Monday, on hopes policy efforts to dampen the impact of the financial crisis would ultimately take hold.
Expectations of more interest rate cuts this week from Australia, Britain and the euro zone following last week's reductions from China, India, Japan and the United States, among others, has at the least slowed the panicked selling of risky assets that dominated most of October.
New Zealand's NZX50 index was up 35 points, or 1.2%, to close at 2856 on low turnover of $40 million.
Telecom rose 9 cents to $2.44, while Contact Energy rose 30c to $7.55 and Fletcher Building was unchanged at $5.80. Auckland International Airport was down 6c to $1.77.
PGG Wrightson was up 5c to $1.75 after Silver Fern Farms pulled the plug on its $220 million partnership deal. Trustpower was unchanged at $7.40 after announcing a 4% rise in annual profit.
The Australian share market finished around 5% stronger - its best performance in almost two weeks, adding $A51 billion to the value of stocks on expectations that interest rates will be cut again on Tuesday.
At the 1615 AEDT close on Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had advanced 203.5, or 5.06% to 4221.5, while the broader All Ordinaries index was 190.3 points, or 4.78%, stronger at 4173.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to cut the overnight cash rate by 50 basis points after the bank's board holds its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday.
In September the central bank cut interest rates for the first time since late 2001, taking the cash rate to 7%.
Asian stocks rose for a fifth straight day, though data still painted an ugly picture of the global economy.
The MSCI index of stocks in the Asia-Pacific region outside Japan rose 5.9%, up for a fifth consecutive session after having dropped 24.6% in October for its biggest monthly decline in the gauge's 20-year history.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 5.3%, with bank shares posting solid gains after a Chinese central bank official reportedly said Beijing had abandoned its lending caps in a move that could make funneling money to small firms much easier.
The benchmark KOSPI in South Korea gained 1.4%, boosted by details on a $US11 billion government fiscal stimulus package that officials said would add a full percentage point to total output.
Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.
