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Telecommunications network operator Chorus won’t meet its contractual obligations to build the bulk of the country’s broadband network if regulated cuts to the wholesale price it charges on its ageing copper lines go ahead, Communications Minister Amy Adams says. Accounting firm Ernst & Young Australia has verbally briefed Adams on whether the Wellington-based company can deliver on its contracts, and …

Brokerage First NZ Capital has been tapped to buy up to 24.8 million Infratil shares for as much as $2.60 apiece for the investment company’s on-market buyback. Infratil’s shares last traded at $2.38 and have gained 4.9 percent this year. The stock is rated a ‘buy’ based on six analysts polled by Reuters, with a median price target of $2.81 …

The New Zealand dollar touched a fresh five-year high against its trans-Tasman counterpart overnight as economic data strengthens expectations Australia may cut interest rates further, increasing the yield appeal of New Zealand’s currency where interest rates are set to rise. The kiwi touched 90.86 Australian cents overnight, and was trading at 90.61 cents at 8am in Wellington, from 90.34 cents …

Wall Street fell after stronger-than-expected US private jobs data raised concern the Federal Reserve might begin tapering its bond-buying programme sooner than anticipated. An ADP report showed private employers added 215,000 new jobs to their payrolls in November, the largest increase in a year and comfortably exceeding economists’ expectations. Meanwhile, October’s rise was revised to 184,000, up from 130,000. “The …

The New Zealand dollar reached a fresh five-year high against its trans-Tasman counterpart after figures showed Australia’s economy grew less than expected in the third quarter. The kiwi rose as high as 90.54 Australian cents in the local session, and traded at 90.31 cents at 5pm in Wellington from 90.01 cents yesterday. It fell to 81.85 US cents at 5pm …

Richina Pacific, the parent of failed construction firm Mainzeal Property & Construction, is in provisional liquidation since quitting the NZX five years ago, and has handed over its financial statements to the Companies Registrar for the financial years leading up to its demise. The registrar was looking into the financial reporting obligations the Mainzeal and Richina group of companies, which …

Diligent Board Member Services, the governance software developer, says it won’t meet a Dec. 12 deadline to release its first half results and now expects then to be as late as Feb. 28, when it is due to publish its full-year report. The company said NZX has indicated it won’t suspend trading in Diligent’s shares provided it meets the new …

– State-owned lender Kiwibank is back within the terms of its bank registration after the departure of New Zealand Post director Murray Gribben evened up the number of independent directors on the board. Gribben resigned from the boards of New Zealand Post and Kiwibank on Nov. 30 to take up a new role as chief executive of Crown Irrigation Investments, …

– Fewer Auckland houses are selling at auction, total sales were down 7.1 percent in November against October, and homes worth less than $500,000 are selling more slowly, says Auckland real estate agent Barfoot & Thompson. However, managing director Peter Thompson says these trends are not enough to say the Reserve Bank’s lending restrictions on highly leveraged borrowers are having …

NZX cash trading volumes soared in November, the 15th straight monthly gain, in a period that included the stock exchange’s biggest ever trading day accounting for almost a fifth of monthly turnover. The total number of trades rose to 141,143 in November from 114,334 in October, and was up 75 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to …