The New Zealand dollar touched its highest in four-and-a-half years against the Aussie this morning after the Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens yesterday suggested a decision on whether to hold interest rates this week was a close call. The kiwi touched 85.80 Australian cents today, its highest since November 2008. The local currency recently traded at 85.62 Australian …

Wall Street was mixed as better-than-anticipated US jobs data offset concern about political unrest in Egypt and ministerial resignations in Portugal. In the US, private payrolls rose 188,000 in June, according to the ADP National Employment Report. That exceeded expectations for a gain of 160,000 jobs. Separately, Jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 343,000 in the week ended June 29 …

Cottonsoft, the toilet tissue maker working to repair its reputation after criticism of parent Asia Pulp & Paper’s tropical rainforest logging, narrowed its loss in 2012 and took a smaller shareholder advance, its accounts show. The net loss was $1 million last year, from a loss of about $2.4 million a year earlier, according to financial statements lodged with the …