New Zealand services sector activity slipped from a six-year high in November, while remaining at an elevated level, adding to other recent evidence that momentum in the economy is picking up pace. The BNZ-BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI) fell 1.4 points to 56.3, remaining in expansion for a seventh straight month. The PSI was again led by new business/orders, …

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the biggest lender by market value across the Tasman, plans to sell down its 8.6 percent stake in Kiwi Income Property Trust after ceding the management contract for $70.5 million. The Australian bank has hired Goldman Sachs to sell down its units in a placement today, and trading in the local property investor has been halted …

New Zealand consumer confidence rose to its highest level in about four years in the fourth quarter as kiwis turned positive about their own finances and more optimistic their own circumstances will improve in the year ahead. The Westpac McDermott Miller Consumer Confidence Index rose to 120.1 in December, the highest since the third quarter of 2009, from 115.4 in …