Business Desk

ANZ’s Morning Brief  highlights a PR assault is now required to reassure NZ’s trading partners that the chemical DCD poses no health risks. narrative essay “Dairy accounts for around one third of NZ’s exports,” says the ANZ brief. “It is somewhat alarming, therefore, that traces of dicyandiamide, or DCD, have been found in NZ milk and milk powder, as a …

A visiting competition expert says regulating petrol prices doesn’t work, and that international attention is now turning to the role refineries play in the industry. Justus Haucap, who holds the chair of competition theory and policy at the University of Dusseldorf, told a seminar in Wellington of an economic laboratory experiment he was involved with to shed light on the …

The New Zealand dollar was trading in a narrow range as traders waited for direction on Japanese monetary police and for US markets to gear up again after the Martin Luther King holiday. The kiwi was at 83.63 US cents at 8am on Tuesday, little changed from 83.60 cents at 5pm on Monday. The currency traded in a relatively narrow …

Government pension and savings funds collectively own more than 5 percent of 47 companies listed on the NZX and more than 10 percent of 17 companies. The analysis of combined market power of Accident Compensation Compensation, New Zealand Super Fund, Government Superfund and National Provident Fund is disclosed in an annual portfolio report by Treasury’s Crown Ownership Monitoring unit. The …

The departing boss of Coca-Cola in New Zealand is leaving disappointed that companies are not appreciated for making money but says the country has been a great place to do business and live in. George Adams is moving back to Europe after serving nine years as managing director of Coca-Cola Amatil NZ and Fiji. Irishman Barry O’Connell, who is currently …

The New Zealand dollar was under pressure in early trading after being sold-off overnight in London. The kiwi was at 83.93 US cents at 8am, little changed from 83.94 cents at 5.25pm on Tuesday. But it slumped from 84.19 cents to about 83.75 cents before recovering in overnight trading. There appeared to have been a large kiwi-euro flow in London …

Wall Street fell amid concern that stock market darling Apple is facing headwinds, fanning concern that other companies might struggle with demand for their products and services too. Shares of Apple sank on reports that it’s slowing down production of its iPhone 5, increasing worries the appeal of some of its products is waning. The stock was last down 3.3 …

Christmas shoppers used plastic cards to spend up on pretty much everything except fuel, according to Statistics New Zealand. The value of electronic card spending in retail industries rose 0.3 percent in December from November. It was the third consecutive monthly increase. The value of total electronic card transactions rose by 0.4 percent in December. The data suggested a more …

United Kingdom Foreign Secretary William Hague will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully announced today. “I look forward to welcoming Mr Hague to New Zealand for the second time in two years,” McCully says. McCully and Hague will hold formal bilateral talks in Auckland on Tuesday , January 15. “This is an excellent opportunity to address critical foreign …

Equities on both sides of the Atlantic weakened at the start of the fourth-quarter earnings season in the US that is expected to show tepid growth in corporate profits. Quarterly earnings are expected to increase by 2.7 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. “People are concerned about earnings,” Ken Polcari, director of the NYSE floor division at O’Neil Securities in …