The Commerce Commission’s draft regime for pricing network company Chorus’s copper lines has divided submitters into investors pushing for a backdown by the regulator and consumer lobby groups and retailers supporting the initial version. The draft determination from Telecommunications Commissioner Stephen Gale highlights an “incoherent policy environment” and risks undermining the government’s vision for a nationwide ultra-fast broadband network, Chorus …

The New Zealand dollar may extend its gains this week on rallying equity markets, offshore demand for yield and a favourable outlook for the local economy. The kiwi dollar recently traded at 84.53 US cents and earlier rose to 84.92 cents. It may trade in a range of 83.50 cents to 85.50 cents this week with a bias to the …

New Zealand commodity prices rose for a sixth straight month in January led by increasing pelt prices, though the strength of the kiwi dollar ate into the benefits for local producers. The ANZ Commodity Price Index rose 0.3 percent last month to a 10-month high 272.6. In local currency terms, the index fell 0.5 percent to 177.2, its second monthly …

A Timaru High Court hearing set for May on whether Aorangi Securities or the Hubbards own $60 million of disputed assets is key to whether investors in the failed group get most of their money back or only a third of the funds, the statutory managers say. The Aorangi investors have so far received 15 cents in the dollar, or …

The chief executive of state-owned coal miner Solid Energy, Don Elder, is to follow most of the company’s previous board of directors and hundreds of staff out the door, announcing his resignation after 12 years in the post. Elder’s departure had been likely ever since last August, when he announced a shock $40 million loss in the year to June …

Tru-Test Group, the agri-tech group that ranked 16th on the TIN100 survey of the country’s top research and technology firms, has bought milk storage and refrigeration firm Dairy Technology Services from local manufacturer NDA Group for $73 million. The Auckland-based company bought the company after raising $5.4 million in a two-for-nine renounceable rights issue at 96 cents apiece, which it …

Satara Cooperative Group, the Te Puke-based kiwifruit and avocado company, may post a full-year loss before tax after an asset revaluation review found it had double-counted its cool stores. The company would reduce the value of land, buildings and plant by $5 million to $33.4 million if it takes all the adjustments in the 2012 year, it said in a …

Optimism rules on the world’s largest economy. Last week’s slew of reports underpinned the cautiously upbeat outlook for the US, even though one showed an unexpected contraction in American GDP in the fourth quarter. On Friday, data showed that US payrolls rose 157,000 in January, with a substantially revised 196,000 gain in the prior month and a 247,000 climb in …

The New Zealand dollar gained against the greenback and reached a five-and-a-half year high on a trade-weighted basis as improving US employment figures underpinned a rally on Wall Street and stoked investors’ appetite for higher-yielding assets. The kiwi was unchanged at 84.53 US cents at 8am in Wellington from the close of trading on Friday in New York, and up …

Kathmandu, the outdoor equipment retail chain, boosted first-half profit by as much as 75 percent on the strength of sales across the Tasman. Net profit was between $9.5 million and $10.5 million in the six months ended Jan. 27, compared to $6 million a year earlier, the retailer said in a statement. That came from a 13 percent increase in …