The New Zealand dollar held above 80 Australian cents ahead of the minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s last policy meeting amid speculation it has further interest rate cuts to come, narrowing the gap with kiwi rates. The New Zealand dollar traded at 80.04 Australian cents, near a two-month high, from 79.99 cents at 5pm in Wellington yesterday. The …

Wall Street gained as a meeting between US President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner at the White House today bolstered optimism a budget agreement will be reached soon. Wall Street took heart from the 45-minute gathering about which no further details were released. In afternoon trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.62 percent, the …

ANZ New Zealand, the country’s biggest bank, sold its eftpos terminal leasing unit, EFTPOS New Zealand, for an undisclosed sum to global payments firm VeriFone Systems. Once the deal is complete, VeriFone will supply electronic payment terminals and switching services in New Zealand, while ANZ will provide merchant acquiring services, which essentially is the processing of fund transfers. The deal …