Orcon, the internet service provider owned by state-owned Kordia, has attracted “intensified” buyer interest in recent months and an announcement is expected to be made in “coming weeks”. Kordia, which rolled Orcon into its network business last year, has been in talks with several parties for a potential sale of the ISP, it said in an emailed statement. The merged …

The New Zealand dollar rose, and has regained much of the ground shed after the US non-farm payrolls report on Friday, as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index edged toward a record high, stoking risk sentiment. The kiwi rose to 82.59 US cents from 82.11 cents at 5pm in Wellington yesterday. The trade-weighted index climbed to 76.20 from 75.88. The …

Global stocks have started the week mixed, with sentiment dampened by concerns about growth in China and the continuing political impasse in Italy. At midday in New York, buyers stepped into the market to drive the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to an intraday record high. The S&P 500 was last up 0.21 percent to 1,554.47, after earlier hitting a …