Shares in Lyttelton Port Co closed at a record high since the South Island’s biggest port listed in mid-1996 after the company reached a settlement with its three insurers for a $438.3 million payout plus GST. The shares jumped 34 percent to $3.24 after the port reached a settlement with Vero, NZI and QBE in what will be one of …

The New Zealand dollar fell after the Federal Reserve trimmed its asset purchase programme in the face of a recovering US economy, in the first step towards ending stimulus which has been debasing the greenback. The kiwi fell to 81.80 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 82.47 cents at 8:10am and 82.50 cents yesterday. The trade-weighted index declined to …

New Zealand’s economy grew at its fastest quarterly pace in almost four years, led by a booming dairy sector and as companies prepare for more growth in 2014, adding to the prospects for a hike in interest rates in the first quarter. Gross domestic product grew 1.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted $37.99 billion in the three months ended Sept …