Australia’s free trade agreement with China heralds a renewed focus to diversify the country’s economy away from a reliance on mineral exports to soft commodities and intensifies competition in a “hotly contested” market. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott labelled the deal between New Zealand’s two-largest trading partners, “at least as good as New Zealand’s” while unnamed government officials said it gives …

Serko, the online travel booking business, widened its first-half loss in line with its May prospectus as it hired more staff to chase sales growth. The Auckland-based company increased its loss to $3.6 million in the six months ended Sept. 30, from a loss of $347,146 a year earlier, it said in a statement. Sales rose 50 percent to $4.7 …

The New Zealand dollar was volatile following the release of the Federal Reserve minutes to its last meeting this morning, as the minutes failed to outline plans for likely interest rate hikes in the world’s largest economy. In the hour following the publication of the minutes at 8am New Zealand time, the kiwi traded between 78.39 US cents 78.93 cents, from 78.71 cents immediately …