Wellington  - The New Zealand stock market - the first in the world to open every day - bounced back from a five-year low on Wednesday following the recovery overnight on Wall Street.

The benchmark NZX-50 index, which fell below 2,500 on Tuesday for the first time since January 2004, gained 42 points to 2,530, a rise of 1.7 per cent, in morning trading.

The value of all the top stocks, including Telecom and Fletcher Building, which had dropped for two consecutive days, increased, though Radio New Zealand quoted brokers as saying there were few bargain hunters in the market and institutional investors remained on the sidelines. (dpa)