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The New Zealand dollar may remain relatively unchanged this week as investors weigh the potential for a slower pace of interest rate increases than previously expected. The local currency may trade between 85 US cents and 87.40 cents this week, according to a BusinessDesk survey of 11 traders and strategists. Six predict the kiwi will remain neutral this week, while …

Shareholders in Wellington Drive Technologies, whose annual accounts were tagged by auditor PwC over forecast cash flows, will vote next month on a sale of preference shares that could hand control of the company to cornerstone investor SuperLife. The Auckland-based maker of energy efficient refrigeration motors today said it raised $2.2 million of the $5 million sought in a one-for-five …

New Zealand producers’ input and output prices rose in the first three months of the year, driven by higher costs to generate electricity because of low hydro-lake levels and more expensive thermal generation. Producer output prices, which measure the prices received by New Zealand producers, rose 0.9 percent in the three months ended March 31, turning from a 0.4 percent decline …

Privately held drugs developer and reseller AFT Pharmaceuticals is contemplating a listing on the NZX, having attracted a 10.6 percent equity investment from a US specialist healthcare investment fund and Auckland-based Milford Asset Management. Companies Office records show Capital Royalty, with headquarters in Houston, Texas, has taken a 7.58 percent stake in Auckland-based AFT, leaving a 3.03 percent stake taken …

New Zealand services sector activity, which accounts for about two thirds of the economy, rose for a second month in April to reach the highest in more than six years, led by new orders and sales. The BNZ-BusinessNZ performance of services index rose 0.4 points to a seasonally adjusted 58.9 in April from 58.3 in March and up from 55.4 …

Abano Healthcare won a bid to sack rebel shareholder Peter Hutson and his wife Anya from their audiology joint venture, Bay International. The Employment Relations Authority ruled the Abano directors on the Bay board had the right to end the employment agreements of the Hutsons, who own half the audiology firm, Abano said in a statement. The ruling doesn’t affect …

The board of Goodman Fielder will unanimously back a A$1.37 billion takeover bid by Singapore-based Wilmar International and Hong Kong-listed investment firm First Pacific Co in the absence of a better offer. Wilmar, the world’s biggest palm oil processor, and First Pacific will pay 70 Australian cents a share to take over the Australasian food ingredients maker, sweetening an earlier …

The New Zealand dollar weakened after Chinese data at the weekend signalled a slowdown in the property market of Asia’s largest economy. The kiwi was at 86.27 US cents at 8am in Wellington, from 86.21 cents at the New York close and 86.42 cents at 5pm in Wellington on Friday. The trade-weighted index slipped to 80.21 from 80.32 on Friday. China, Australia and New Zealand’s largest …

Investors will eye the latest US Federal Reserve meeting minutes as well as a speech by Chair Janet Yellen for fresh clues to help justify Wall Street trading near record highs. On Wednesday the Fed will release the minutes from its latest meeting, while Yellen is scheduled to deliver a commencement address to NYU graduates at Yankee Stadium. Last Thursday Yellen …

Trustpower is expecting an after-tax uplift in earnings of A$19.9 million within two years from stage two of its South Australian Snowtown wind project. In slides for an investor briefing in Sydney posted to the NZX, 51.1 percent Infratil-owned Trustpower says it is projecting a contribution of A$14.7 million to net profit after tax in the 2015 financial year and …