The resiliency of Wall Street’s record run so far this calendar year has left investors comfortable that there is room to extend the gains. On Friday, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index closed at a record 1,633.70, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at a record 15,118.49. The Dow rose 1 percent, while the S&P 500 increased 1.2 percent …

MightyRiverPower shares rose 4.8 percent from their offer price in their first day of trading on the NZX as investors added to their holdings after receiving less stock than they asked for. Shares in the state-controlled power company edged up 12 cents to $2.62 from their $2.50 initial public offering price. Trading was within the offer range of $2.25 to …

Westpac Banking Corp’s New Zealand fund management arm contracted out the management of more than $650 million of its listed New Zealand stocks and property holdings to a new firm started by its employees. BT Funds Management (NZ), which has $4.6 billion of funds under management, will hand over its equity and property portfolios to Salt Funds Management, owned by …

 TrustPower, the utility controlled by Infratil, reported a 6 percent fall in underlying annual earnings as it went faced a tougher environment with dwindling customer numbers and thinner margins. The shares gained. Underlying earnings, which strips out one-off impairment charges and changes in the fair value of assets, fell to $127.3 million, or 40.5 cents per share, in the 12 …

The Serious Fraud Office investigation into failed company Hanover Finance cost the regulator about $1.1 million. The SFO spent about $600,000 on its own staff and overheads and a further $505,111 on advisers during the 32-month investigation, it said in a statement today. The office last week said it won”t lay charges against any of the firm”s directors or owners …

Warehouse Group, the country’s biggest listed retailer, boosted third-quarter sales at its Red Sheds and stationery outlets, and has kept its annual guidance unchanged. Sales, excluding recent acquisitions Noel Leeming and Torpedo7, rose 6.2 percent to $418.7 million in the three months ended April 28 from the same period a year earlier, the Auckland-based retailer said in a statement. Including …

The New Zealand dollar fell as the greenback strengthened above 100 yen to a four-year high on speculation an improvement in the U.S. economy may bring forward an end to quantitative easing. The kiwi fell to 83.90 US cents from 84.56 cents at 5pm yesterday, having dropped as low as 83.51. The trade weighted index fell to 77.86 from 77.97. …

Air New Zealand, the national carrier slated for a partial sell-down by the government, has ramped up pressure on the Commerce Commission to drop its long-running pursuit of the airline’s alleged involvement in a global cartel on air cargo surcharges. The Auckland-based airline is the only carrier out of 11 not have settled with the antitrust regulator, and is urging …

Fidelity Life Assurance has acquired most of Tower’s life insurance business for a net amount of about $70 million, propelling the closely held company to the third-largest in the market. Fidelity, whose businesses include life insurance, business insurance and KiwiSaver, is acquiring most of Tower’s non-participating life insurance. The Auckland-based company has a strategy of growing organically and through acquisitions, …

An unexpected drop in US weekly jobless claims and solid earnings including from News Corp weren’t enough to keep Wall Street from sliding after initially setting fresh records. The labour market provided further reason for optimism about the general outlook for the US economy, following the April jobs data released last Friday. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined 4,000 …