Wellington - New Zealand shares bounced back 3 per cent Wednesday, following a Wall Street revival.

The benchmark NZX-50 index finished the day up 3.07 per cent, or 97.74 points at 3,187.96.

New Zealand's rebound came on the back of news that politicians and economists expected that US lawmakers would salvage a 700-billion-dollar rescue plan for the financial sector.

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard told Radio New Zealand that the central bank would wait and carefully observe the passage of the rescue package.

Bollard also appeared to rule out emergency cuts to the key official cash rate. "That is not the sort of thing that the official cash rate necessarily would respond to," Bollard told Radio New Zealand.

"We think we are in a reasonable position from a monetary policy point of view."

Bollard hinted at a further cut in interest rates, after a review due on October 23. "We really pushed the rates up during the very, very hot times, now we can push them down," Bollard said. (dpa)