Tag Archives: Australia

Quattro Asset Management, an Australian fund manager, is in negotiations to buy two Auckland industrial assets from Goodman Property Trust and two office towers in Wellington and Auckland from Precinct Properties New Zealand The Sydney-based investor is in talks with Goodman to buy its Enterprise Park at Wiri and SuperCheap Auto, part of the Savill Link Estate in Otahuhu, Goodman (NZ), the manager of the Auckland-based property …

Insurance Australia Group may close all but one of its 22 State branches in New Zealand a bid to consolidate its national direct insurance network as more customers phone or turn online for assistance. The Auckland-based insurer will decide in mid-October whether to close the bulk of its branches, affecting 91 jobs, as 94 percent of its customers used its website or called for …

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey talks up his country’s potential to be the “world’s number one energy exporter” within the decade but China’s ban on the sale and import of coal with high ash or sulfur content may impact forecast returns. The Chinese Government’s crackdown is in response to the heavy pollution in Shanghai and Beijing and social unrest in many …

The Australian is today reporting that Australia is on track to sign free-trade agreement with China at about the time of the November G20 meeting in Brisbane, after the latest round of negotiations left senior ministers believing the deal can be clinched by the end of the year. The Oz story hedges bets somewhat about where the expected signing will …

THE reported beheading of British aid worker David Haines by so-called Islamic State terrorists was, as British Prime Minister David Cameron said, “an act of pure evil’’. After months of murderous atrocities in northern Iraq and Syria, including the beheadings of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, a broad coalition of Western and Arab nations will take on an …

Australian state governments spent A$17.6 billion on subsidies for mineral and fossil fuel industries over six years, including A$8 billion to help transport coal, according to a report. The Australia Institute says it’s the first time state subsidies have been added up and they are on top of Federal subsidies, estimated at A$4.5 billion in 2013. The report reveals the …

The Reserve Bank of Australia cut its cash rate by a quarter point to 2.5 percent as expected, matching its New Zealand counterpart’s official cash rate for the first time in more than four years and lifting the relative appeal of the kiwi. The RBA made good on its observation in recent statements that inflation in Australia is benign enough …

Kevin Rudd’s new chief of staff Jim Murphy has strong links with New Zealand’s policy and business elites, even if his boss doesn’t. Murphy, an Australian Treasury deputy secretary, was at Peter Costello’s side when the former Australian Liberal Treasurer co-launched the Australasia single market process with former NZ Finance Minister Michael Cullen a decade ago. A taciturn man, he …

The Reserve Bank of Australia said its currency may extend a 10 percent slide since April as the bank maintained its easing bias and kept its benchmark cash rate unchanged at 2.75 percent. “The Australian dollar has depreciated by around 10 percent since early April, although it remains at a high level,” Governor Glenn Stevens said in a statement on …

Methven, the tapware maker, says full-year profit fell about 21 percent on weaker trading in the Australian market. The shares fell to an 11-month low. Net profit in the 12 months ended March 31 was about a fifth lower than the previous year’s $6.5 million and profit before one-time items was about 12 percent lower, the Auckland-based company said in …