New Zealand dollar trading got off to a slow start on Monday due to the regional holiday in Wellington and Martin Luther King holiday weekend in the US. The kiwi was at 83.69 US cents at 8am, little changed from 83.54 cents at 5pm on Friday. It fell on Friday after weaker-than-expected December quarter consumers price index data implied interest …

Mercury Energy, the electricity retailer owned by partial privatisation candidate MightyRiverPower, has announced its first across the board price cuts in a decade. The cuts average 1.4 percent for most of its customers in its home territory, Auckland, and will apply from April 1. The cut is credited to an order by the government’s competition watchdog, the Commerce Commission, to …

In stark contrast to when I opened the curtains yesterday to reveal great disappointment, today Beijing truly turned it on, presenting a winter-wonderland outside as snow blanketed the city. Beijing looked truly stunning today, the snow cleared much of the pollution and the extended sight-lines showed a beautiful winter city – giving a whole new appreciation for what is truly a tremendously …