New Zealand food prices fell last month led by cheaper, meat and in-season fruit and vegetables, though milk prices rose to a nine-month high. The food price index fell 0.3 percent in February, following a 1.9 percent a month earlier, in its sixth decline in seven months, according to Statistics New Zealand. Annual food prices decreased 0.1 percent. Fruit and …

The New Zealand dollar was little changed as Wall Street’s rally to record levels ran out of puff and traders pondered the effects on the economy of widespread drought in the North Island. The kiwi traded at 82.45 US cents from 82.44 cents at 5pm in Wellington yesterday. The trade-weighted index was at 76 from 76.09. The Dow Jones industrial …

Wall Street pulled back, with the Dow retreating from yesterday’s record close, as solid American jobs data failed to outweigh concern about Europe’s outlook. US job openings rose by 81,000 to 3.69 million in January from a revised 3.61 million in February, according to Labor Department data. “We’ve got a long way to go to get back to a fully …