Offshore, the S&P\/ASX 200 Index was up 2.63% to 8958.1 points at 6pm NZ time, nearing its record high of 9202.9 set in late February. The Japanese Nikkei 225 had risen 5.47% to 56,357.06 points, and the Hong Kong Hang Seng had increased 3.06% to 25,885.07.<\/p>\n
This was all because the ceasefire \u201ceverywhere, including Lebanon\u201d caused the oil price to fall sharply, with Brent crude trading at US$94 ($161) a barrel, down 14%. US index futures climbed more than 2%.<\/p>\n
Greg Smith, investment specialist at Generate, said the ceasefire provided immediate relief and some breathing space for markets in the second month of the conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe key driver is oil \u2013 it has been the poster child for developments in the war. Equities have moved inversely to the price of oil. You saw that in spades today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fall in the oil price helped ease inflation fears, but it\u2019s only a conditional ceasefire on the promise that the Hormuz Strait gets moving again<\/a>,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen these last-minute pull-backs [from Trump] before, and the clock has been reset and ticking down. You can\u2019t blame the markets for remaining sceptical.\u201d<\/p>\n OCR held at 2.25%<\/p>\n The Reserve Bank held the Official Cash Rate at 2.25% but warned that if medium-term inflation looked like being persistent, it would act decisively.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Monetary Policy Committee is focused on ensuring that inflation returns to the 2% target midpoint over the medium term.\u201d<\/p>\n The central bank forecast inflation to be at 4.2% by the end of June (it was 3.1% at the end of December), assuming oil prices fell below US$100 a barrel.<\/p>\n Smith said the Reserve Bank was the first central bank to meet post-ceasefire, and it has to deal with some uncertainty.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reaction of the Reserve Bank was relatively predictable, but it is mindful of the second round of inflation and growth pressures, and we may see increases in the OCR later in the year.\u201d<\/p>\n Local stocks rise<\/p>\n Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 87c or 2.28% to $38.96; Auckland International Airport increased 25c or 3.12% to $8.27; Freightways rose 55c or 4.33% to $13.25; and Mercury Energy collected 15c or 2.38% to $6.44.<\/p>\n Infratil gained 22c or 1.9% to $11.80 after telling the market that the value of its 49.72% shareholding in the CDC data centres increased A$500m ($605.65m) to A$7.45 billion at the end of March.<\/p>\n CDC\u2019s valuation improved 7.2% to A$15b during the quarter, reflecting the successful completion of the A$500m equity raise \u2013 Infratil contributed $250m \u2013 to accelerate the development pipeline.<\/p>\n Skellerup increased 18c or 3.28% to $5.67; Gentrack was up 20c or 3.08% to $6.70; Fletcher Building rose 15c or 5.1% to $3.09; Ryman Healthcare added 4c or 1.87% to $2.18; and Tourism Holdings gained 18c or 8.61% to $2.27.<\/p>\n Air New Zealand, which uses 22,000 barrels of jet fuel a day, was up a further 2c or 4.4% to 47.5c.<\/p>\n