The American academic whose work underpins the Labour Party’s electricity policy says New Zealand’s existing market arrangements are starting to work better and should be improved further. In a wide-ranging interview with BusinessDesk, Professor Frank Wolak of Stanford University described the Labour-Greens NZ Power single buyer policy as “a sham that might make me feel a bit better”, but was …

The New Zealand dollar approached 89 Australian cents this morning as investors favoured the reviving local economy over investment in Australia where the economy is slowing. The kiwi touched a new five-year high of 88.98 Australian cents, and recently traded at 88.87 cents, from 88.30 cents at the 5pm market close in Wellington yesterday. The local currency was little changed …

First NZ Capital upgraded its recommendation on homeware and sporting goods retail chain Briscoe Group to ‘neutral’ from ‘underperform’ and raised its outlook for earnings, citing better sales. Briscoe this week posted a 6.4 percent increase in second quarter sales and a 3.9 percent rise in same-store sales, compared with the year earlier quarter. The homeware unit posted its ninth …