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New Zealand’s largest insurance group, IAG, has slightly improved its underlying profit margins on insurance products while passing on a doubling in the cost global reinsurance because of the Canterbury earthquakes. In a presentation for investors in Sydney, IAG’s New Zealand chief Jacki Johnson said reinsurance costs had risen to 15 percent of gross written premiums (GWP) in the first …

Technical issues at NZX have kept investors in the dark with no market announcements being published on the stock exchange operator’s website and Reuters and Bloomberg services not showing trading action. The stock exchange hasn’t published any new market announcements on its public website today, due to technical issues though trading is open, an NZX spokeswoman said. It was unclear …

Allied Farmers, which kept itself alive last month through a fire sale of toxic loans, has sold its Taranaki real estate unit for $472,500, more than a quarter of the group’s value by market capitalisation. The Hawera-based firm sold its Allied Farmers First National business to the unit’s manager’s Shawn Gibbon and Owen Mills as part of its asset sale …

MightyRiverPower expects it would take at least four years for the Labour and Green party electricity policies to be enacted. With more than a year until the next scheduled election, that could make the promised power price cuts as much as five years away. The MRP estimate is based on the parties’ own statements about the complex process such change …

Snakk Media, the latest brainchild of Hyperfactory co-founder Derek Handley, wants to raise up to $2 million through a share purchase plan near the bottom of an independent adviser report’s valuation range. The Auckland-based company will sell shares at 12 cents apiece, a 20 percent discount to the average trading price over the past 30 days, and near the lower …

THE COSTS OF AUSTERITY. With recent debate over austerity and its likely costs, last night’s fiscal debt and deficit data for Europe made for interesting reading. Encouragingly, the Eurozone general government budget deficit fell to 3.7% of GDP in 2012 from 4.2% in 2011, the lowest since 2008, comparing favourably with deficits for the US and UK (over 8% of GDP) …

Wall Street advanced, propelled by Microsoft and Caterpillar. Gains in Microsoft shares, last up 4.1 percent, bolstered momentum after reports that ValueAct Capital had taken a US$2 billion stake in the company. Shares of Caterpillar also rose, last up 3.3 percent. While the company reported earnings that fell short of expectations and downgraded its 2013 forecast, investors took heart from …

Inside US Trade is predicting the race for the WTO Director-General”s job is narrowing to an Indonesia-Brazil showdown.  As I noted in my column in the NZ Herald last week the key contest in the second “sudden death” round is between Groser, Brazil”s WTO ambassador Roberto Calvalho de Azevedo (reported as having an edge in diplomatic circles) and Indonesia”s former …

The Labour and Green parties’ new electricity policy has struck a new political blow, forcing the government to suspend the MightyRiverPower float overnight while it updates the offer document to would-be shareholders. The update also triggers a five day window for investors who’ve registered for shares in the partial privatisation of the state-owned electricity company to withdraw their commitment. The …

New Zealand shares rose as companies in regulated markets, such as Contact Energy and Chorus, recovered from last week’s selloff and among small caps, Ecoya soared after beating its earnings guidance. The NZX 50 Index rose 39.156 points, or 0.9 percent, to 4483.65, a record high close. Within the index, 35 stocks rose, 10 fell and five were unchanged. Turnover …