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New Zealand’s current account deficit widened more than anticipated in the three months to Dec. 31, clocking in at $10.5 billion for the 2012 calendar year, or 5 percent of gross domestic product. Contributing to the rise was an increase in dividends paid to foreign investors, although foreign earnings by New Zealand companies in the quarter reached a five year …

Prices of dairy products surged to the highest in two years in Fonterra’s latest GlobalDairyTrade auction as drought curtails production in the North Island. The GDT-TWI Price Index rose 14.8 percent compared to the last sale two weeks ago, the biggest increase since the Sept. 1, 2010, sale and the seventh straight gain. The average winning price rose to US$4,683 …

Concern about Europe’s squabbling over a palatable plan to save Cyprus from financial collapse weighed on Wall Street, even as the latest US housing data showed further signs of a sustainable recovery in the industry. Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades said that lawmakers are likely to reject a plan to tax bank deposits, even as it was amended to protect those …

ANZ reports the  GDT-TWI index rose a massive 14.8 per cent overnight as there was a scramble to secure reduced New Zealand ’s supply before the end of the season. Wholemilk powder prices hit its highest level ever, rising 21.2 per cent to US$5,116 per tonne. This will certainly increase the pressure for a further increase in the 2012-13 milk …

CYPRUS REJECTS LEVY PROPOSAL: Overnight, the focus remained on the Cypriot deposit levy/bailout issue.  In latest news the vote of ‘Plan B’ has just failed. Overnight the Cyprian parliament debated a ‘Plan B’ as they rejected the current governing party’s request to postpone the vote and ‘Plan A’ was a show stopper. ‘Plan B’  was  only slightly modified from the first cut as …

New Zealand shares rallied late in the day, after suffering from the same negative sentiment induced in other overseas markets by the banking crisis in Cyprus. The NZX 50 Index rose 4.016 points, or 0.093 percent, to 4,345.040 after spending most of the day in negative territory. Within the index, 28 stocks rose, 15 fell and seven were unchanged. Turnover …

The New Zealand dollar was little changed after the Reserve Bank of Australia released minutes of its last policy meeting, giving little further in the way of clues to its interest rate intentions. The kiwi dollar traded at 82.48 US cents, little changed from the start of New Zealand trading and up from 82.33 cents the previous day. The trade-weighted …

Guinness Peat Group has hired a London-based brokerage to promote Coats as a standalone business and begun the search for a chairman for what will be its remaining asset. GPG is exiting its portfolio of investments, apart from Coats, and will return capital to shareholders as it transforms into the thread-making business. GPG chairman Rob Campbell doesn’t plan to lead …

The spread of computer chips into products as diverse as washing machines, toasters and medical equipment is forcing Statistics New Zealand to overhaul its biennial technology survey. Trading in information and communication technology goods and services was worth $23 billion in 2012, up 17 percent from the last survey in 2010, according to the government statistician. Of that, $10.1 billion …

Cut-price petrol retailer Gull Petroleum has won the right to appeal to the Supreme Court in its stoush with the Customs Department over the rate of excise duty it should charge on butane added to petrol arriving at the wharf in New Zealand. The addition of locally produced butane effectively “waters down” the potency of Gull petrol, but allows the …