The New Zealand Superannuation Fund has excluded seven companies with operations in nuclear bases from its $22 billion portfolio, while clearing the return for four firms which had previously been excluded for their involvement in cluster munitions. The Cullen Fund, so-called for its architect former Finance Minister Michael Cullen, will exclude public companies Babcock & Wilcox, Fluor Corp, Huntington Ingalls …

The New Zealand dollar dropped to its lowest in almost 11 months after a US jobs report showed the world’s largest economy is recovering, spurring demand for the greenback. The kiwi slid to as low as 78.20 US cents, its weakest since July 25 last year. The local currency recently traded at 78.37 cents, down from 78.85 cents on Friday …

Friday’s May US payrolls report appears to have quieted, but not put to rest, the main focus of investors: when will the US Federal Reserve begin to temper its monthly bond-buying program? Initially this week, the focus has shifted to Asia where there were signs of deepening weakness in China, fuelling concern about the slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy …