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The US dollar’s weighting has slipped in the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s new trade-weighted index, which adds the Chinese yuan to a line-up of 17 currencies skewed to Asia and intended to more accurately reflect New Zealand’s modern trade profile. The expanded TWI represents the biggest overhaul of the currency basket since it was introduced in the 1970s  as …

Tauranga-based electricity company Trustpower says it remains committed to its renewable energy projects in Australia, in spite of the uncertainty created by the review of the Renewable Energy Targets policy by the federal government. Meridian Energy canned a 34 Megawatt hydro scheme in Northern Queensland last week, citing the uncertainty created by a long-running review of the RET, which Prime …

Kiwi Income Property Trust unitholders have overwhelmingly voted in favour of corporatisation, completing a year-long transformation that saw the property trust taking management in house by buying out Commonwealth Bank of Australia. A total of 99.9 percent of votes cast were in favour of turning the trust into a company, which is to be called  Kiwi Property Group Ltd. Its units …

Fiji Airways, the Pacific nation’s national airline, will launch direct flights between Wellington and Nadi from June next year as it looks to extend its reach into New Zealand latching on to increased travel to Fiji, while also providing new routes into North America. The Nadi-based airline will run the twice-weekly service all year round, flying on Thursday and Sunday …

Graymont, the Canadian lime business, has agreed to buy McDonalds Lime from Holcim New Zealand, which plans to close its Westport cement plant in 2016, and Bluescope Steel-owned New Zealand Steel for an undisclosed sum.   The local operations of the international cement company will also sell its Taylor’s Lime assets to Graymont, the companies said in a joint statement. McDonalds Lime is …

Cooks Global Foods widened its first-half loss after buying the Canadian franchise rights to Esquires Coffee Houses, completing its ownership of the brand outside New Zealand and Australia, and spending more to expand its global footprint The loss widened to $1.2 million in the six months ended Sept. 30, from a loss of $831,000 a year earlier, the Auckland-based company said in a statement. Operating income was $4.3 …

Pulse Energy, the electricity retailer controlled by lines company Buller Electricity, sank deeper into the red in the first half as historical electricity derivatives tied the company to substantially higher than expected wholesale prices and chewed up revenue growth. The Auckland-based company reported a net loss of $9.99 million, or 2.9 cents per share, in the six months ended Sept. 30, widening …

Median national housing rents rose at an annual pace of 5.3 percent in November, slowing from a month earlier as rental prices continue to plateau, according to online auction site Trade Me. The national median rent was $400 a week across all property types in November, unchanged from October, and slowing from a peak annual increase of about 8 percent in September, …

The New Zealand dollar fell as the continued decline in crude oil prices stoked concern that global economic growth may be faltering, weighing on equity markets and sapping risk appetite. The kiwi fell to 77.61 US cents as at 8:30am in Wellington, from 77.70 cents in late New York trading on Friday and from 77.90 cents in Asia at the end of …

The Chinese government has its eye on an unknown number of New Zealand-resident Chinese citizens who are thought to have established themselves here with funds obtained through corrupt practices, the Prime Minister, John Key, says.  The issue came up in talks between Key and the Chinese president, Xi Xinping, during his three-day state visit to New Zealand last month and …