Wall Street advanced as better-than-expected exports data from China underpinned hope the world’s second largest economy will help propel growth elsewhere. China’s overseas shipments jumped 14.1 percent from a year earlier last month. That compared with the 5 percent median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 40 economists. And the US replaced the EU last year as China’s largest …

New Zealand shares rose, pushing the NZX 50 Index to a new five-year high, as expectations of a pickup in building activity lifted companies such as Fletcher Building, Steel & Tube Holdings and Cavalier. PGG Wrightson rose to a 17-month high. The NZX 50 rose 15.54 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4119.08, the highest since November 2008. Within the index, …

Nelson-based Brightwater Group, which last year threatened redundancies over delays to Bathurst Resources’ proposed coal mine on the Denniston Plateau, has been ordered to pay more than $77,000 to in lost wages and compensation over the way it laid off four staff in 2010. Employment Relations Authority member Helen Doyle found the engineering firm ran a flawed and predetermined process …