The official May US jobs report tomorrow is the key focus for Wall Street as the guessing game about the timing of a potential downward adjustment to the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing program remains centre stage. With the next two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting starting on June 18, tomorrow’s government payrolls data is expected to provide direction to the …

Air New Zealand has agreed to lift its holding in Virgin Australia to about 23 percent from 19.99 percent in a series of off-market transactions and indicated it may seek to hold as much as 26 percent. New Zealand’s state-controlled airline paid about A$72 million for the shares, with the largest purchase being for 77.4 million shares at 47.68 Australian …

Auckland house price growth stalled for a second month in May as buyers baulked at rising prices, according to Barfoot & Thompson, the city’s biggest realtor. The average sale price edged up 0.3 percent to $644,737 in May, following a 0.5 percent drop in April, the firm said. The median price advanced 0.7 percent to $570,000. “The Auckland property market …