The New Zealand dollar traded near a 2 ½ year high against its Australian counterpart before minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s last policy meeting that may hint at further easing across the Tasman. The kiwi traded at 82.05 Australian cents, little changed from 5 pm in Wellington yesterday, having reached as high as 82.33 cents at the end …

The government will wait for the Supreme Court to rule on the Maori Council appeal against the partial privatisation of state-owned electricity company MightyRiverPower, even though it needed a decision by today to meet its own sales timetable. Prime Minister John Key told his post-Cabinet press conference that the Cabinet could have passed an Order in Council today to proceed …

Bank of New Zealand first-quarter profit sank 56 percent after the local unit of National Australia Bank took bigger impairment charges on its loan book and wrote down the value of financial instruments. Loan growth bolstered underlying earnings. Net profit fell to $126 million in the three months ended Dec. 31 from $289 million a year earlier, according to the …

Independent News & Media, the Irish media group controlled by billionaire Denis O’Brien, wants a clean-out of APN News & Media’s boardroom after gunning for chief executive Brett Chenoweth’s head last week. The Irish group has made an official request for a general meeting that would put APN independent directors Chenoweth, Melinda Conrad, John Harvey, Kevin Luscombe, John Maasland and …

Freightways, the courier and data management company, posted an 11 percent gain in first-half profit to a record, meeting estimates, and said the outlook is for a slow pace of growth. Profit rose to $21 million in the six months ended Dec. 31, from $18.97 million a year earlier, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. Sales rose 8 percent …

Property for Industry, the listed industrial property investor, reported a 7.5 percent fall in annual earnings as the company rejigged its portfolio with some asset sales and dealt with vacancies in the year, though management is optimistic about the coming year. Distributable profit, the favoured measure for property companies because it strips out unrealised changes in the fair value of …

The New Zealand dollar fell from record highs on a trade-weighted basis and against the pound on speculation it may have run too hard after a string of strong economic figures. The kiwi dollar traded at 54.40 British pence, little changed from late New York trading on Friday and down from a post-float high of 55.08 pence at the end …

Economic growth worldwide, deemed “still too weak”, remained a key concern at a two-day meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors, which stopped short of asking countries to refrain from targeting exchange rates. As central banks of the US, Europe and Japan have stepped in to help revive their economies by effectively weakening their currencies, other …

Infratil and its manager Morrison & Co say no decision has been made to sell specific assets such as Z Energy of its NZ Bus unit. how to increase penis size The NZ Herald reported today that Infratil has been reviewing its capital structure and both Z Energy and NZ Bus could be sold to free up capital for it …

State-owned electricity company MightyRiverPower is dissolving a five-year-old investment partnership in American and German geothermal developments, taking 100 percent control of development opportunities in Chile and a 20 percent interest in a Californian geothermal producer. The move comes ahead of next Thursday’s half-year profit announcement for the company, which is slated for partial privatisation by mid-year, although those plans may …