The New Zealand share market outperformed most other equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region for the second day in a row, with investors favouring the high yielding, low risk securities provided by most New Zealand listed companies.

The NZX50 index was up 0.6 per cent, or 22.55 points, to 3501.39. Within the index, 25 stocks rose, 15 fell and 10 were unchanged.

Mint Asset Management portfolio manager Shane Solly said the New Zealand market was one of the strongest performers in Asia Pacific today.

"New Zealand is definitely flavour of the month in terms of relatively strong earnings and robust balance sheets. Boring is good at the moment, with low risk stocks there has been strong interest from both domestic and international investors," Solly said.

"Our friends in Australia continue to get knocked around by people anxious about resource prices on concerns the Chinese economy would be slow. Here, the telco sector is roaring away, both Telecom and Chorus were up today."

Telecom rose 2.2 per cent to $2.58 and Chorus was up 1.8 per cent to $3.33.

This morning, Australian-based telco Telstra announced it would sell its wholly-owned subsidiary TelstraClear to Vodafone for $840 million. Most analysts had tipped a much lower price of about $400m to $500m.

Telstra shares rose 0.8 per cent on the NZX to $4.57.

The leading gainer was would-be bank Heartland, up 5.9 per cent to 54c. Carter Group head Philip Carter acquired a 5 per cent stake in the firm, following private equity fund Torchlight selling 7.5 million Heartland shares for $3.75m.

Rural services company PGG Wrightson rose 3.2 per cent to 32c. Retirement villages operator and developer Ryman Healthcare rose 2 per cent to $3.61.

Retailer The Warehouse was up 1.6 per cent to $2.55. Children's clothing chain Pumpkin Patch rose 1.1 per cent to 89c. Market operator NZX Limited was up 0.8 per cent to $1.32. Carpet maker Cavalier rose 0.7 per cent to $1.50.

Industrial property investor Property For Industry was the leading declining stock, with a 2.5 per cent drop to $1.16. Freightways fell 1.8 per cent to $3.86. Outdoor clothing and equipment company Kathmandu Holdings was down 1.4 per cent to $1.44.

National carrier Air New Zealand fell 1.1 per cent to 90c. Industrial chemicals and resins maker Nuplex was down 1.2 per cent to $2.50. Fisher & Paykel Appliances, the whiteware manufacturer and exporter, was down 0.9 per cent to 57c.

Rubber goods and milking equipment manufacturer Skellerup Holdings was down 0.7 per cent to $1.43. New Zealand Oil and Gas was down 0.6 per cent to 84c.

- © Fairfax NZ News