New Zealanders’ retail spending on credit, debit and store cards dropped last month, the first decline since March, led by furniture, hardware, appliances and clothing. Retail spending on electronic cards fell 0.8 percent seasonally adjusted in September, the biggest decline since July last year, when spending fell 1 percent, according to Statistics New Zealand. Core retail sales, which exclude vehicle …

Infratil named Mark Tume as acting chairman after announcing yesterday that David Newman had taken medical leave. Tume has been an independent director of Infratil since 2007 and is chairman of its audit and risk committee. Fellow director Paul Gough will now chair the committee, the company said. Newman, who has been chair since 2004, is also taking a leave …

OceanaGold Corp, the worst performing stock on New Zealand’s benchmark index this year, has agreed to acquire all the shares in Canadian gold miner Pacific Rim Mining Corp that it doesn’t already own in a deal valued at C$10.2 million. OceanaGold is offering 0.04006 of its shares for each Pacific Rim share, which would see it issue some 6.76 million …