Christchurch City Council had its credit rating cut one notch and is still on a negative outlook after losing its accreditation to issue building consents. Global rating agency Standard & Poor’s cut the long and short-term ratings to A+/A-1 from AA-/A-1+ after lowering its assessment of the city’s political and management strength, it said in a statement. The downgrade comes …

The New Zealand dollar may decline this week as traders increase bets that the Federal Reserve will start to reduce stimulus in September as the US economy shows signs of improvement. The local currency may trade between 75 US cents and 79 cents this week, with a lower bias, according to a BusinessDesk survey of 10 traders and strategists. Eight …

Frucor Beverages, whose parent Suntory Beverage & Food debuted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange last week, posted a 31 percent decline in annual profit as costs rose and sales fell. The New Zealand bottler of Gatorade, V, Just Juice, h2go and Pepsi soft drinks reported a profit of $22.6 million in calendar 2012, down from $32.8 million a year earlier. …