New Zealand manufacturing activity remained in hearty expansion mode last month, while slowing from a nine-year high in May, with new orders and production driving growth. The BNZ-BusinessNZ performance of manufacturing index fell 4.3 points to 54.7 in June, the highest result for a June month since 2004. A reading above 50 indicates the sector expanded, while one below shows …

The New Zealand dollar retraced earlier gains against the euro and pound on better economic data from Europe. The kiwi fell to 60.47 euro cents from 61.43 cents at the 5pm market close in Wellington yesterday and slid to 52.20 British pence from 52.75 pence yesterday. The local currency weakened to 77.95 US cents from 78.51 cents yesterday. The New …

Wall Street was mixed as minutes from the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed policy makers were looking for further strength in the US labour market before easing the central bank’s bond-buying program. In late afternoon trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.20 percent, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 0.09 percent to …