Kiwis Take On The Market

The scene is set for a battle between the New Zealand Reserve Bank (and presumably the Government) and the market (especially big investors) over the value of the Kiwi dollar and the overall direction of NZ interest rates and the economy generally.

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Behind The Boom

With unemployment at a 32 year low of 4.2 per cent, employment surging (66,000 fulltime jobs created last month) and a one in a thousand year drought, not to mention a sluggish homebuilding industry in the big states of NSW and Victoria, why don't we have wages and inflation problems, and why do we have a boom?

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Metcash Disappoints

Australia's third retailing force, the independent wholesaler, Metcash Ltd, disappointed yesterday when it missed most analysts targets for its 2007 profit and doubled up with a less than optimistic forecast of a smallrise in earnings in the 2008 year.

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Media Moves

A high stakes game involving the Nine Network and its Perth affiliate, STW 9; with an apparent threat being made to turn off programming by Nine if the owner of the Perth station didn't pay millions of dollars owing under an affiliation agreement.

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Bids

Russia's Norilsk Nickel has won the battle for control of LionOre Mining International after Xstrata said it wouldn't increase its offer price for the Canadian/Australian nickel miner.

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Commodities Strong

A better end to the week for most major commodities, thanks to more confirmation that the US economy seems to be recovering, and an easing of fears that the Government-engineered volatility in the Chinese stockmarket could cause problems in the wider economy.

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