The New Zealand dollar is heading for a 2.4 percent drop against the greenback this week after a slump in milk powder prices this week fuelled calls for the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates more aggressively to prop up the country’s biggest export sector. The kiwi fell to 65.37 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 71.29 cents on Friday …

A slump in the price of whole milk powder, New Zealand’s key dairy export, is likely to continue according to traders who are pricing in further declines on the NZX futures market. The price for whole milk powder dropped 13.1 percent to an average US$1,848 a tonne at the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction overnight on Wednesday as many of the monthly contracts failed …

Steel & Tube Holdings rose after the country’s biggest steel distribution company said it’s agreed to buy fastener distributor Manufacturing Suppliers for $32 million in a cash and scrip deal. The Petone-based company will pay $26 million in cash and $6 million in shares for Auckland-based MSL, which is best known for its Fortress Fasteners brand, which Steel & Tube will …