The number of home sales fell 4.4 percent in August from July, while soaring on an annual basis, as the national median price steadied on a monthly reading, according to the latest figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand. Auckland’s median price increased 0.7 percent in August to $740,000, and has surged 21 percent in the year. Some 7,766 homes sold …

NZX, New Zealand’s stock market operator, has accredited US-based Straits Financial to access its growing dairy derivatives market. Straits has been accredited as a general clearing, trading and advising participant for the NZX dairy derivatives market, the first US clearing member to receive approval since authorisation was granted from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission in February 2014, Wellington-based NZX said in a …

By Fiona Rotherham Sept. 9 (BusinessDesk) – Fonterra Cooperative Group, the country’s largest milk processor, has confirmed it has put on hold a proposed coal mine at Mangatangi while it assesses its energy options. The Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA), which is trying to stop coal mining in New Zealand, said Fonterra sent a letter last week to local residents …