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The Reserve Bank of Australia said its currency may extend a 10 percent slide since April as the bank maintained its easing bias and kept its benchmark cash rate unchanged at 2.75 percent. “The Australian dollar has depreciated by around 10 percent since early April, although it remains at a high level,” Governor Glenn Stevens said in a statement on …

Restaurant Brands New Zealand, which is counting on new burger chain Carl’s Jr to drive future earnings growth, is closing unprofitable stores at its worst-performing Starbucks unit ahead of a possible sale next year. The fast-food operator closed six Starbucks stores last financial year and may shutter a further five outlets as leases come up for renewal, leaving 22 profitable …

New Zealand commodity prices fell for a second month in June, led by dairy products and beef, though the slide in the kiwi meant prices actually rose in the local currency. The ANZ Commodity Price Index fell 3.7 percent last month, following a 1.6 percent decline in May. Whole milk powder declined 9 percent and skim milk powder fell 8 …

Fonterra Cooperative Group, the world’s biggest dairy exporter, plans to spend $27 million to double storage capacity at its Te Rapa site, which is currently under-capacity. The Auckland-based cooperative expects to save an annual $5 million in operating costs from a new dry store at the Waikato site, where its base capacity it at just 60 percent of standard season …

The New Zealand dollar edged up as investors increased their holdings in the local currency after a 6.7 percent slide last quarter amid expectations super-loose monetary conditions in the US will end this year. The kiwi rose to 78.01 US cents from 77.70 cents at 5pm in Wellington yesterday. The trade-weighted index increased to 73.98 from 73.75 yesterday. The New …

Manufacturing data from the US was better than expected, as were those from Europe, but China’s data offered another sign that growth in the world’s second-largest economy is dimming. In the US, the Institute for Supply Management’s index of national factory activity gained to 50.9 in June from 49 in May. A reading above 50 signals expansion. In late afternoon …

The NZX 50 index fell 0.3 percent after trading on New Zealand’s stock market resumed after a three-hour outage over connectivity issues. The benchmark index dropped 14 points when markets reopened at 3pm in New Zealand, and was recently at 4413.521, down 0.6 percent on the day. The stock market operator will investigate the outage, and will report back to …

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund, which invests to fund the country’s universal state pension, will place $40 million in a new $150 million venture capital fund to finance fast-growing small to medium-sized businesses with global potential. The funds will be placed with Auckland-based Pioneer Capital, which already holds stakes in recently listed software company SLI Systems, boutique brewer Moa beer, …

All trading on New Zealand’s stock market has been halted due to technical issues in the second major outage this year. A spokeswoman for the NZX confirmed the stock exchange has halted trading, and is investigating the problem. Reuters reported the stock exchange operator said it had connectivity issues and suspended trading on all markets while it looked at the …

The New Zealand dollar may decline this week on speculation about the removal of asset purchasing stimulus in the US and on concern Chinese growth may be faltering. The local currency may trade between 75 US cents and 80 cents this week, with a lower bias, according to a BusinessDesk survey of nine traders and strategists. Five expect the kiwi …