The New Zealand dollar touched a new five-year high against the Australian dollar overnight ahead of a report today which is expected to show the Australian economy continues to lag New Zealand. The kiwi hit 91.31 Australian cents overnight, and was trading at 90.86 cents at 8am in Wellington from 90.81 cents at 5pm yesterday. The local currency slipped to …

Wall Street rose amid optimism that accelerating economic growth will outweigh any pullback in the US Federal Reserve’s bond-buying programme. In afternoon trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.11 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.24 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.15 percent. Gains in shares of General Electric and Caterpillar, both …

New Zealand shares rose after Telecom announced the sale of its AAPT unit in Australia at a higher price than expected and Contact Energy led gains among power companies beaten up by fears of a Labour-Greens government next year. The NZX 50 Index rose 4.783 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4718.306. Within the index, 20 stocks rose, 22 fell and …