NZX 50 rises to record on yield appetite NEW Zealand shares have climbed to a fresh record, as investors continued to be drawn to equities for higher yields. THE NZX 50 Index rose 51.349 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 5470.339 on Monday. Within the index, 23 stocks rose, 18 fell and nine were unchanged. Turnover was $110 million. Stocks held for their reliable income have been bought as investors look for somewhere to park their cash in a low interest rate environment. Spark advanced 3.3 per cent to $3.155, Fletcher Building 2.9 per cent to $8.60, Mighty River Power 2.4 per cent to $3.03, Contact Energy 1.7 per cent to $6.47 and TrustPower 2.4 per cent to $7.70. "The ongoing hunt for income continues," said James Smalley, director at Hamilton Hindin Greene. Xero, which has fallen 46 per cent since the start of the year, climbed 6.3 per cent to $18.62. The cloud-based accounting firm bought US online payroll company Monchilla to help drive its expansion in the US. "Xero is having a good bounce back," Mr Smalley said. That's the market switching to a risk-on scenario with growth stocks - those pretty benign inflation figures have investors thinking it's going to be difficult waiting for interest rates to rise, and that data shows it ain't going to happen any time soon. OceanaGold Corp, the Melbourne-based gold miner, led the benchmark index higher rising 6.5 per cent to $2.30.