Innovation  SLI Systems widened its annual loss while sales met the reduced guidance it gave in April, after the online retail search engine developer reorganised its sales team and was impacted by a weaker Brazilian economy The Christchurch-based company reported a loss of $7.1 million in the year ended June 30, from a loss of $5.7 million a year earlier, it said in a …

The New Zealand dollar slumped to its lowest level in six years as equities sank amid concerns about global growth. The kiwi touched 62.44 US cents overnight, its lowest level since July 2009, amid low liquidity, and was trading at 64.90 cents at 8am in Wellington, from 65.89 cents at 5pm yesterday. The trade-weighted index fell to 69.98 from 71.04 …

New Zealand shares rose, led by Westpac Banking Corp, as dual-listed stocks rebounded from a sharp drop yesterday. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and Spark New Zealand gained. The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 5.98 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5613.29, somewhat reversing yesterday’s biggest drop in four years. Within the index, 15 stocks rose, 28 fell and seven were unchanged. Turnover was $260 million. Some …

Mercer Group, the stainless steel fabricator and manufacturer, widened its annual loss after only one of its units turned a profit and it wrote down the value of its assets. The Auckland-based company posted a loss of $6.7 million, or 2.21 cents a share, in the 12 months ended June 30, from a loss of $457,000, or 0.17 cents, a year earlier, …

Wall Street pared losses, after plunging in the first 10 minutes of trading after Chinese stocks plummeted as investors rushed to the sidelines. “Anybody with a pulse was nervous when the market opened,” Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles, told Reuters. “The only thing that’s certain is the volatility is going to continue …

Contact Energy, which generates about a quarter of New Zealand’s electricity, plans to sell as much as $125 million of six-year bonds in the final step of its refinancing programme. The Wellington-based company will offer $100 million of unsecured, unsubordinated, fixed-rate bonds to institutional investors and New Zealand retail investors, with the potential for a further $25 million in oversubscriptions, it said …

Contact Energy, which generates about a quarter of New Zealand’s electricity, plans to sell as much as $125 million of six-year bonds in the final step of its refinancing programme. The Wellington-based company will offer $100 million of unsecured, unsubordinated, fixed-rate bonds to institutional investors and New Zealand retail investors, with the potential for a further $25 million in oversubscriptions, it said …

ECONOMY  The Federal Reserve is preparing for its annual meeting in Jackson Hole amid intensifying concern the slowing growth in China will impact the global economy and US corporate profits. Wall Street sank last week, along with other equity markets, as did US oil which briefly slid below US$40 a barrel. The declining appeal of stocks and an increased appetite …

New Zealand spending on electronic cards rose for the third consecutive month in July, led by a surge in spending on apparel, that sector’s first gain since February. The value of core retail spending, which strips out fuel and vehicle related items, rose 0.5 percent to $3.9 billion in July from June, accelerating from the previous month’s revised 0.1 percent gain, …

Pacific Edge, the maker of non-invasive bladder cancer tests, has won US regulatory approval to commercially process test samples from its latest cancer detecting product at its Dunedin laboratory. Approval and registration with the US regulatory standard, Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, enables the commercial use of its Cxbladder Triage test at its diagnostics laboratory, the company said in a statement. Registration is …