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Wall Street climbed to fresh highs as investors bet that the pace of the economic recovery, both at home and abroad, will sustain corporate profit growth. The initial catalyst for today’s rally was another piece of good news from China. Reports showed that the nation’s imports increased more than expected last month, rising 14.1 percent, while export growth eased to …

Guinness Peat Group, the investment company liquidating its holdings, has agreed to sell 19.9 percent of ASX-listed property developer CIC Australia to Peet Ltd for about $15 million. Peet today announced a cash takeover for all the shares in CIC for 60 Australian cents apiece or A$76 million, it said in a statement to the ASX. CIC has seven active …

Fletcher Building executive Dave Worley has left the country’s biggest listed company after the Crane unit he was responsible for was folded into the parent. The Auckland-based company will disestablish Crane, which has been operating as a separate group since its takeover two years ago, in a bid to better align the construction firm’s units, Fletcher said in a statement. …

New Zealand retail spending on electronic cards fell in March, snapping five months of gains, as Easter trimmed two trading days and kiwis spent less on durable goods and clothing. Retail spending on credit, debit and charge cards fell 0.5 percent, seasonally adjusted, last month, according to Statistics New Zealand. Excluding fuel and vehicles, core retail spending fell 0.8 percent …

Crucial face-to-face talks between the owners of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter and its electricity supplier, Meridian Energy, resume in Wellington today, with both sides blocking out the rest of the week, if necessary, to try and nut out a new electricity contract. Representatives of the smelter’s 80 percent owner, Pacific Aluminium, are due to arrive for the talks at …

The New Zealand dollar rose above 85 US cents for the first time in two months as global equity markets rose, local business confidence improved and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke gave no hint that quantitative easing could end. The kiwi advanced to 85.21 US cents, rising above 85 cents for the first time since Feb. 15, from 84.86 cents …

Wall Street advanced, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sauntering to an intraday record as investors found value in Microsoft, Intel and Cisco. Shares of Microsoft, last up 3.7 percent, Intel, last up 3.4 percent, and Cisco, last up 2.3 percent propelled the Dow to a fresh intraday high of 14,716.46. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index followed suit, touching …

Methven, the tapware maker, says full-year profit fell about 21 percent on weaker trading in the Australian market. The shares fell to an 11-month low. Net profit in the 12 months ended March 31 was about a fifth lower than the previous year’s $6.5 million and profit before one-time items was about 12 percent lower, the Auckland-based company said in …

Telecom Corp, the country’s biggest telecommunications company, has dumped the architect of its mobile network Alcatel-Lucent in favour of Chinese heavyweight Huawei to build its 4G infrastructure. The Auckland-based company picked Huawei due to its experience building 73 long-term evolution (LTE) mobile technology networks across 42 countries and because the Chinese telecommunications manufacturer is “truly pushing the boundaries of LTE …

Michael Hill International, the jewellery chain that bears its founder’s name, said sales in the first nine months of the year rose 8.8 percent on revenue gains in its biggest markets of Australia and New Zealand. Sales climbed to $425 million in the nine months ended March 31, from $390.8 million a year earlier, the Brisbane-based retailer said in a …