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 …

Cost-saving options for embattled telecommunications infrastructure provider Chorus include allowing the quality of its service to drop by under-investing in maintenance and upgrades on its existing copper-wire networks, says the report into its future by Ernst & Young Australia. Chorus says it is committed to striking the “right balance …to ensure New Zealand consumers continue to benefit from high quality …