Uncategorized

Insurance Australia Group, whose ASX-listed shares have surged 63 percent this year, is selling its unprofitable UK operations, taking a loss of about $240 million on them in the 2013 year. The Sydney-based insurer, which runs the NZI, State and AMI insurance bands in New Zealand, will sell its Equity Red Star motor insurance business in the UK to buyout …

The New Zealand dollar fell from a nine-month high amid concerns politicians in Washington are making no progress in talks to avert the fiscal cliff, countering the impetus growth assets got from the Federal Reserve’s further quantitative easing and weighing on stocks. The kiwi dollar fell to 84.23 US cents from 84.40 cents at 5pm in Wellington yesterday. The trade-weighted …

BACK TO THE FISCAL FRONT.  With the dust settling after the FOMC tweaks, market attention invariably returns to budget negotiations.  For an understanding as to how negotiations might pan out we need to look beyond macroeconomics (which tells us to simply get a deal done: sooner as opposed to later) and into game theory. “Games” like the Prisoner’s Dilemma are examples of self …

The New Zealand dollar fell from a nine-month high amid concerns politicians in Washington are making no progress in talks to avert the fiscal cliff, countering the impetus growth assets got from the Federal Reserve’s further quantitative easing and weighing on stocks. The kiwi dollar fell to 84.23 US cents from 84.40 cents at 5pm in Wellington yesterday. The trade-weighted …

Wall Street declined as US House Speaker John Boehner renewed concern about the lack of progress in talks aimed at preventing US$600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts taking effect on January 1. “Unfortunately, the White House is so unserious about cutting spending that it appears willing to slow-walk our economy right up to the ‘fiscal cliff,'” Boehner told a …

New Zealand shares fell as investors continued to take profits, foundation investors in Infratil reduced their holdings, and previously top 50 stocks prepared to leave the index. The NZX 50 fell 20.53 points, or 0.5 percent, to 3974.72. Within the index, 30 stocks fell, 11 rose and nine were unchanged. Turnover was $147.5 million. However, the newly tradable non-voting Fonterra …

The New Zealand dollar rose to a four-year high against the yen after the US Federal Reserve cranked up its money printing presses, heightening the appeal of countries offering high interest rates, and as Japan’s general election looks set to usher in a new government. The kiwi rose to 70.50 yen from 69.32 yen yesterday, the first time it’s climbed …

New Zealand is leveraging its understanding of methane emissions from farm animals to lead global research on reducing the powerful, but short-lived gas’s production. Climate Change Minister Tim Groser says the project is a workstream in a project being taken on by the newly formed Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), which New Zealand is joining. Some 34 percent of …

New Zealand consumer confidence edged up in December from November, with more kiwis expecting their families to be better off in a year’s time and the nation to have better times over the next five years. The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rose to 114.7 this month from 114.1 in November. A reading above 100 indicates there are more optimists than …

An Employment Relations Authority decision has whacked Ports of Auckland with a $40,000 fine for employing strike-breakers when its unionised workforce was picketing earlier this year. ERA member Anna Fitzgibbon yesterday found the port took a calculated risk in using an external contractor under the guise of a training programme while Maritime Union staff were on strike in February this …