Forsyth Barr investment adviser Dan Stratful said the market was focusing on the homeware side - devices to help sleep apnea sufferers - which had fallen into the background while hospital devices took centre stage due to Covid-19.
"The market now seems to be focusing on the homeware business, which is responsible for about 25 to 30 per cent of FPH's revenue," he said.
EBOS gained 65c or 2 per cent to $30.40 while Mainfreight firmed 97c, 1.3 per cent, to $73.37.
"It's more of the same for those two. They have been the better performers lately," Stratful said.
The dual-listed Westpac, which has talked about spinning off its New Zealand arm, gained $1.41 or 5 per cent to $28.280 after reporting a 14 per cent lift in first-half earnings.
"The bank results really have been better than feared," Stratful said.
"The downturn in the housing market did not happen. Dividends will return and in a low-interest rate world, banking stocks offer a high yield," he said.
Now that exchange traded fund (ETF) activity in the big power companies had abated, it looked like some semblance of normality was returning, with investors focusing on fundamentals, Stratful said.
On that score, Contact Energy gained 11c or 1.5 per cent to $7.65 while Genesis Energy finished at $3.40, down 4c.
Genesis has reiterated its earnings forecast for the June year would be in a $415m and $425m range, subject to market conditions.
A2 Milk firmed 8c or 1 per cent to $7.73 despite uncertainty surrounding its continued membership of the MSCI New Zealand index.
Stratful said the jury is still out as to whether the stock will exit the influential index, which is used extensively by the index tracking ETFS.
A statement is expected on May 12 and any changes are expected to take effect on May 27.
"It is too early to tell," Stratful said.
"It will be a 50/50 coin toss whether it is removed from the MSCI index," he said.
Substantial selling in a2 Milk is expected to take place if the stock is removed.
Shares in Foley Wines were flat at $1.80 after the company said its harvest for 2021 would be well down on prior years.
The harvest totalled 5,582 tonnes across the Marlborough, Martinborough and Mt Difficulty wineries, down 28 per cent on the previous year's harvest, Foley said.
It was a mixed bag for the other winemakers, with Delegats gaining 10c to $14.750 while Marlborough Wine Estates Group fell by 3c or 10 per cent to 27c.
In other movements, Trustpower finished at $8.75, down 9c or 1.02 per cent.
New Zealand freight and logistics company, TIL Logistics closed at $1.06, up 6c or 6 per cent, after announcing the placement of $8.2m of mandatory convertible notes to some of its largest shareholders and other wholesale investors to repay bank debt.
