Finance

David Ross, the Ponzi-accused former manager of Ross Asset Management, appeared in the District Court in Wellington this morning for substantive hearings on eight Crimes and Financial Advisers Act charges. He was remanded until Aug. 29. All aspects of today’s hearing were supressed. Ross faces charges relating to $384.8 million of assets recorded in the accounts of a Ross vehicle, …

By Pam Graham Rakon, a maker of crystal oscillators used in smart phones and navigation systems, will liquidate its two-year-old Chinese factory if a plan to sell it does not go through. iphone sms spy Shenzhen Stock Exchange-listed ZheJiang East Crystal Electronic Co is buying 80 percent of Rakon Crystal (Chengdu) Co (RCC) for $US18.8 million. Rakon, which will retain …

NZX, the market operator, doubled annual profit as it benefited from new listings, a surge in trading activity and fees for running market operations, more than making up for a drought-impacted NZX Agri division. Profit rose to $6.4 million, or 2.51 cents a share, in the six months ended June 30, from $3.2 million, or 1.27 cents, a year earlier, …

Finance Minister Bill English has appointed former Bell Gully partner Jonathan Ross and US-based venture capitalist Bridget Liddell to the board of the Reserve Bank. Ross joins the board today, replacing academic Chris Eichbaum, whose five-year tenure ended on July 31, and Liddell will join the board from October, replacing outgoing chairman Arthur Grimes. Rod Carr was elected chair by …

THE COSTS OF AUSTERITY. With recent debate over austerity and its likely costs, last night’s fiscal debt and deficit data for Europe made for interesting reading. Encouragingly, the Eurozone general government budget deficit fell to 3.7% of GDP in 2012 from 4.2% in 2011, the lowest since 2008, comparing favourably with deficits for the US and UK (over 8% of GDP) …

Dame Jenny Shipley will stand down as a director of one of China’s most powerful banks at the forth-coming AGM – one of three independent non-executive directors who are retiring by rotation from the board at the shareholders’ annual meeting. The others are  Joseph Yam Chi Kwong  and  Wong Kai-Man. Dame Jenny was first appointed as a CCB director in …

CYPRUS REJECTS LEVY PROPOSAL: Overnight, the focus remained on the Cypriot deposit levy/bailout issue.  In latest news the vote of ‘Plan B’ has just failed. Overnight the Cyprian parliament debated a ‘Plan B’ as they rejected the current governing party’s request to postpone the vote and ‘Plan A’ was a show stopper. ‘Plan B’  was  only slightly modified from the first cut as …

Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee welcomed the new open skies air services agreement between New Zealand and Brazil. “Brazil is touted to become one of the world’s most powerful emerging economies,” Brownlee says. “It will also host the next FIFA World Cup and Olympic Games. “Travel between New Zealand and Brazil is increasing, with around 10,000 Brazilians visiting New Zealand each year and over …

The value of cash market trading on New Zealand’s stock exchange jumped 58 percent in February from the same month a year earlier as low interest rates keep investors looking for better returns. Total trades increased 4.8 percent to 81,624 last month from February 2011 with the total value traded at $3.5 billion, according to the NZX’s monthly metrics. Average …

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed to a record on optimism the US economy remains on track for a sustained recovery, while China showed it’s determined to revive growth with plans for a record level of government spending. In afternoon trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was last up 1.01 percent to 14,269.04, surpassing its previous intraday …