Westland Milk Products, the Hokitika-based dairy cooperative, has overtaken rival Fonterra Cooperative Group in cutting its forecast payout to farmers, citing falling global dairy prices and the persistent strength in the kiwi dollar. The cooperative revised its payout forecast to between $5.40 and $5.80 per kilogram of milk solids before retentions in the 2014/15 season, down from between the $6 and …

The New Zealand dollar rose after Fonterra Cooperative Group yesterday said it would maintain its milk price forecast, expand its local processing capacity and form a partnership to help sell its products in China, New Zealand’s largest trading partner. The kiwi gained to 83.75 US cents at 8am in Wellington, from 83.67 cents at 5pm yesterday. The trade-weighted index was at 78.98 from 79 …

Investors flocked to a US auction of US$35 billion in five-year notes as European bond yields sank to record lows amid bets that the European Central Bank will add more stimulus in an effort to prop up the flagging euro-zone economy. “It was a fantastic auction,” Ray Remy, head of fixed income in New York at Daiwa Capital Markets America, …