2011 News Articles - Company News - New Zealand Online

Back to the future with shares

Thu, 15 Dec 2011

Astonishing volatility swings have been evident in markets over recent months, depending on whether European authorities are seen to be converging upo... Read more »

Asset Allocation and Currency December 2011

Thu, 15 Dec 2011

The sole asset allocation change made in November entailed removing 1.4% of exposure from international equities (now 30.6% of asset allocation) and a... Read more »

“Flight to quality” petering out in bond markets

Thu, 15 Dec 2011

There was no respite in November from the uncertainty caused by developments in Europe... Heightened risk aversion was the dominant influence for most... Read more »

Kiwi market reporting season a mixed bag

Thu, 15 Dec 2011

New Zealand equities ended down -1.9% in November as European uncertainty continued... November saw a number of results and AGMs, with news flow remai... Read more »

Capital value and rental trends flatten out

Thu, 15 Dec 2011

The majority of the listed property trusts presented their half yearly accounts during the month of November, with common themes emerging across all f... Read more »

“Risk off" returns to hammer hedge funds

Thu, 15 Dec 2011

The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index Total Return Index returned to downtrend by falling -2% over November after lifting 7% in October. Read more »

Market movements as at 30 November 2011

Thu, 15 Dec 2011

Market movements as at 30 November 2011 Read more »

KiwiSaver membership growth bounces back up

Mon, 12 Dec 2011

KiwiSaver provider TOWER Investments has released its regular monthly analysis of the IRD’s KiwiSaver membership statistics for the month of November,... Read more »

More growth for our money

Tue, 22 Nov 2011

With a general election looming, it’s refreshing to see retirement issues introduced for public debate by the political parties. Read more »

Asset allocation and currency November 2011

Tue, 22 Nov 2011

Asset allocation has been tactically adjusted away from Strategic Asset Allocation benchmarks for the balanced fund portfolio as per the graphs below. Read more »

Greece smoothes then ruffles market feathers

Tue, 22 Nov 2011

Early in the quarter, New Zealand economic releases generally indicated stronger growth than the market had expected, and in its July review the Reser... Read more »

Flat NZX a stockpicker’s market

Tue, 22 Nov 2011

While October saw a sharp rebound in many of the world’s share markets the New Zealand stock exchange was remarkably subdued, down 0.3% for the month.... Read more »

The bulls come out for a quick trot around the paddock

Tue, 22 Nov 2011

October was another in a series of highly volatile months. On this occasion though, it was the more benign aspect of volatility on show, as markets a... Read more »

Stores galore for sale in the Queen City

Tue, 22 Nov 2011

Statistics New Zealand recently announced that the country’s population rose by more than 220,000 over the past five years, and that more than half of... Read more »

Risk on turnaround boosts commodities

Tue, 22 Nov 2011

Markets were heartened by the announcement that euro zone authorities had hammered out a deal for the orderly restructuring of Greek sovereign debt. Read more »

Market movements as at 31 October 2011

Tue, 22 Nov 2011

Market movements as at 31 October 2011 Read more »

Topsy-turvy volatility boosts risky assets in October

Tue, 15 Nov 2011

TOWER Investments has released its monthly analysis of financial market performances for the month of October, 2011. “October was a month of sharp ... Read more »

New Zealand resilient in face of global share market turmoil

Tue, 18 Oct 2011

The New Zealand equity market proved to be particularly resilient in a big downtrend quarter for global equity markets. Read more »

Looking through the eye of the storm

Tue, 18 Oct 2011

The September quarter was fraught with volatility across financial markets as investors stampeded to embrace a herd mentality of fearful pessimism. Read more »

Asset Allocation and Currency October 2011

Tue, 18 Oct 2011

Asset allocation remained as previously tactically adjusted but currency hedging was opportunistically increased Read more »

RBNZ backs off OCR hikes

Tue, 18 Oct 2011

Global developments continued to overwhelm domestic considerations during the September quarter. Read more »

Market chaos creates golden opportunities

Tue, 18 Oct 2011

Global stock markets suffered their worst quarterly result since the peak of the global financial crisis, with the MSCI All Country World Index down -... Read more »

Spooked investors stampede out of commodities

Tue, 18 Oct 2011

The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index Total Return Index plummeted nearly -15% in September as panic engulfed financial markets and investors stampeded ou... Read more »

September quarter dominated by property management manoeuvres

Tue, 18 Oct 2011

Controversies over the structure and ownership of property management contracts continued to dominate over the past quarter, with most coming to a hea... Read more »

Market movements as at 30 September 2011

Tue, 18 Oct 2011

Market movements as at 30 September 2011. Read more »

KiwiSaver membership finally cracks 1.8 million

Tue, 18 Oct 2011

KiwiSaver provider TOWER Investments has released its regular monthly analysis of the IRD’s KiwiSaver membership statistics for the month of September... Read more »

September quarter marked by sovereign credit risk fears

Wed, 05 Oct 2011

KiwiSaver provider TOWER Investments has released its monthly analysis of financial market performances for the month of September, 2011... “The month... Read more »

TOWER KiwiSaver Scheme Annual Report 31 March 2011

Mon, 26 Sep 2011

We are pleased to publish the TOWER KiwiSaver Scheme annual report for the year ended 31 March 2011. Read more »

Investing wisely when cash is king

Tue, 20 Sep 2011

Bad news keeps pouring in from overseas economies as the impetus of the massive fiscal and monetary stimulus of recent years begins to peter out. Read more »

Asset Allocation and Currency September 2011

Tue, 20 Sep 2011

Asset allocation has been tactically adjusted away from Strategic Asset Allocation benchmarks for the balanced fund portfolio as per the graphs below. Read more »

Credit rating scare boosts sovereign bonds

Tue, 20 Sep 2011

Developments in international markets completely overshadowed domestic news... The credit rating downgrade for the US and continued uncertainty over E... Read more »

"Fortress New Zealand” generous with dividends over August

Tue, 20 Sep 2011

New Zealand’s share market suffered along with the rest of the world’s through the month of August... The NZX50 Index ended the month down -2.14%, but... Read more »

Australia in for a dose of Dutch disease?

Tue, 20 Sep 2011

“If farming were to be organised like the stock market, a farmer would sell his farm in the morning when it was raining, only to buy it back in the af... Read more »

Capital values softening again

Tue, 20 Sep 2011

Speaking at the New Zealand Property Council conference in August, the Investment Property Databank (IPD) outlined its view on the status and prospect... Read more »

August a bloodbath for hedge funds

Tue, 20 Sep 2011

The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index Total Return Index edged up just 1% in August to recover some more of the ground lost over May and June. Read more »

Market movements as at 31 August 2011

Tue, 20 Sep 2011

Market movements as at 31 August 2011. Read more »

KiwiSaver membership nudges 1.8 million

Wed, 14 Sep 2011

KiwiSaver provider TOWER Investments has released its monthly analysis of the IRD’s KiwiSaver member count for the month of August, 2011. Read more »

Sovereign credit risk spreads fear through markets

Mon, 05 Sep 2011

KiwiSaver provider TOWER Investments has released its monthly analysis of financial market performances for the month of August, 2011. Read more »

KiwiSaver membership growth analysis from TOWER Investments: July 2011

Wed, 24 Aug 2011

Post-Budget KiwiSaver sign-up slump continues KiwiSaver provider TOWER Investments has released its monthly analysis of the IRD’s KiwiSaver member co... Read more »

Governments playing pass the sovereign debt parcel

Tue, 23 Aug 2011

Since July 22, share markets began a slide that subsequently accelerated into a plunge after Standard & Poor‟s announced on August 5 that the long-ter... Read more »

Asset Allocation and Currency

Tue, 23 Aug 2011

Asset allocation has been tactically adjusted away from strategic Asset Allocation benchmarks for the balanced fund portfolio as per the graph below. Read more »

US, European wrangling scares bond markets

Tue, 23 Aug 2011

International developments combined with signs of a stronger domestic economy led to a volatile market in July. Read more »

New Zealand share market not as bad as the rest

Tue, 23 Aug 2011

The New Zealand equity market ended in negative territory for the month, down 1.5%, but again outperformed Australia and the MSCI World index. Read more »

Investors head for the exits in July

Tue, 23 Aug 2011

Europe and Australia were some of the weakest markets, returning -4.5% and -3.8% respectively. Emerging markets generally outperformed world markets, ... Read more »

Liquidity returning but property sales still under pressure

Tue, 23 Aug 2011

July opened with the announcement that Soho Square, a 1.33ha vacant development site in Auckland‟s Ponsonby, had been sold by receivers to Progressive... Read more »

Commodities up, hedge funds down

Tue, 23 Aug 2011

The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index Total Return Index lifted almost 3% in July, after falling about 10% over May and June, which bucked the trend for o... Read more »

Market movements as at 31 July 2011

Tue, 23 Aug 2011

Market movements as at 31 July 2011 Read more »

Getting ready for financial repression

Fri, 22 Jul 2011

The world’s major economies can be split into the developed and emerging market categories... Running virtually along the same line of split is the po... Read more »

Asset Allocation and Currency July 2011

Fri, 22 Jul 2011

Asset allocation has been tactically adjusted away from Strategic Asset Allocation benchmarks for the balanced fund portfolio... Read more »

Investor disquiet unsettles bond markets

Fri, 22 Jul 2011

After peaking in mid- April at 5.82%, the 10-year government bond yield fell steadily to close the quarter down 0.60% at 5.06%, having touched a low o... Read more »

June quarter dominated by Telecom

Fri, 22 Jul 2011

New Zealand was one of the few global share markets to return a positive performance, +0.47%, for the June quarter. While this is a modest return it c... Read more »

Share markets sag under Greek debt crisis

Fri, 22 Jul 2011

After a strong first quarter, the June quarter saw global share markets slip backwards... The principal concern was the continued unravelling of the G... Read more »

Colour-zoned Christchurch bad news for some property investors

Fri, 22 Jul 2011

Immediately following the February earthquake many property owners feared the worst over the future of the city, and downgraded the value of their inv... Read more »

Alternatives battered over June quarter

Fri, 22 Jul 2011

Two main causes drove the rout over the June quarter... The economic cause was rising concern that global economic growth was losing momentum, implyin... Read more »

Market movements as at 30 June 2011

Fri, 22 Jul 2011

Market movements as at 30 June 2011 Read more »

KiwiSaver sign-ups crack 1.75 million post-Budget but monthly growth rates down

Mon, 18 Jul 2011

KiwiSaver provider TOWER Investments has released its monthly analysis of the IRD’s KiwiSaver member count for the month of June, 2011. Read more »

New appointments at TOWER Investments

Wed, 13 Jul 2011

Default KiwiSaver provider TOWER Investments has announced two new key staff appointments sourced from internal recruitment. Read more »

Risky assets swerve on slippery Greece

Wed, 06 Jul 2011

Monthly market analysis from TOWER Investments: June 2011 Report... KiwiSaver provider TOWER Investments has released its monthly analysis of financia... Read more »

ANZUS currencies pose conundrum

Thu, 16 Jun 2011

The rampant Kiwi dollar is causing a lot of grief to New Zealand’s non-agricultural export sector – particularly tourism – unless exports to Australia... Read more »

Asset Allocation and Currency June 2011

Thu, 16 Jun 2011

Asset allocation has been tactically adjusted away from Strategic Asset Allocation benchmarks for the balanced fund portfolio. Read more »

Return of caution boosts bond markets

Thu, 16 Jun 2011

The recent strong demand for New Zealand government bonds continued in the first few days of May and drove the 10-year yield down to 5.25%, having clo... Read more »

“Telecom effect” boosts local bourse

Thu, 16 Jun 2011

The New Zealand equity market was a standout performer in May, with the NZ50 Gross index up 0.8% while most other equity markets retreated. The outpe... Read more »

Greece, China, US weigh on markets

Thu, 16 Jun 2011

Renewed worries surfaced over the finances of Greece and Portugal. The European Commission said Greece's economy is projected to contract more than pr... Read more »

Management contract ructions roil property trusts

Thu, 16 Jun 2011

Unitholders in the Argosy Property Fund have received a proposal from the external fund manager (ANZ) to purchase its management contract for $32.5 mi... Read more »

Month of May a bloodbath for alternatives

Thu, 16 Jun 2011

The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index Total Return Index tumbled 5% in May as virtually all commodities included in the index dropped in price. Read more »

Market movements as at 31 May 2011

Thu, 16 Jun 2011

Market movements as at 31 May 2011 Read more »

KiwiSaver membership growth analysis

Wed, 15 Jun 2011

Default KiwiSaver provider TOWER Investments has released its monthly analysis of the IRD’s KiwiSaver member count for the month of May, 2011. Read more »

New appointment at TOWER

Wed, 15 Jun 2011

TOWER is pleased to announce the appointment of Peter Wilkening as Key Account Manager within the Intermediary Distribution team, based in Auckland. Read more »

TOWER Profit Pleasing Despite Earthquakes - Dividend To Be Paid

Fri, 27 May 2011

(Auckland – NZ): TOWER Limited today reported a pleasing financial result for the six months to March 31 in the wake of the Christchurch earthquakes a... Read more »

Asset allocation and currency May 2011

Wed, 11 May 2011

Asset allocation and currency hedging were not changed during the month of April Read more »

Energy, precious metals skyrocket

Wed, 11 May 2011

This strength was narrowly focused, however, as it was concentrated in the energy and precious metals sectors. Energy demand was evident across the b... Read more »

Market movements as at 30 April 2011

Wed, 11 May 2011

Market movements as at 30 April 2011 Read more »

New Crown rules for capital’s office market

Wed, 11 May 2011

There’s a love-hate relationship between the Crown and Wellington property investors when it comes to leasing office space. The Crown hates the invest... Read more »

Markets return to early 2008 levels

Wed, 11 May 2011

April saw several markets move higher and into territory not seen for some time. The broader share market, in this case the MSCI World Index, shrugge... Read more »

“Deep value” takeover comes a-knocking at the door

Wed, 11 May 2011

During April the NZX50 Gross Index (excluding imputation credits) moved up through the 3,500 level, the first time it had done so since the first half... Read more »

Huge demand for NZ government debt

Wed, 11 May 2011

A feature of the New Zealand bond market in April was the significant volume of issuance absorbed by investors, many of them offshore. The total issu... Read more »

Bull market backed by supercheap cash

Wed, 11 May 2011

Appetite for risky assets like equities and commodities has really taken off this year and an extended bull market is now more confidently proclaimed.... Read more »

Christchurch earthquake redraws retail property map

Tue, 26 Apr 2011

The ramifications of the Canterbury earthquake are becoming increasingly apparent, with investors considering a number of negative influences that wil... Read more »

Market movements as at 31 March 2011

Tue, 26 Apr 2011

Market movements as at 31 March 2011 Read more »

Hedge funds put in a steady quarter

Tue, 26 Apr 2011

The energy sector gave cause for concern over mounting inflationary pressures, with even natural gas jumping in the final month. Rising energy prices ... Read more »

Central banks break ranks

Thu, 21 Apr 2011

In the wake of the global financial crisis one striking effect was the way in which central banks the world over converged in their monetary policies.... Read more »

Asset allocation and currency Aprill 2011

Thu, 21 Apr 2011

Asset allocation continued to be set at the Strategic Asset Allocation benchmarks for the balanced fund portfolio as per the graph below. We continue ... Read more »

Japan shock rocks stocks

Thu, 21 Apr 2011

Global equity markets ended generally up for the quarter (MSCI World +3.7%, MSCI ACWI +3.3% in local currencies), despite confidence-damaging politica... Read more »

First quarter good for stock picking

Thu, 21 Apr 2011

The first quarter of 2011 was ultimately a safe, solid and promising start to the year for the New Zealand market. A return of 3.9% by the NZX50 Gross... Read more »

Seismic shift in interest rates

Thu, 21 Apr 2011

Economic and political considerations were overshadowed by natural disasters during the March quarter. In direct response to the Christchurch earthqu... Read more »

Earthquake's wide reverberations across property

Wed, 16 Mar 2011

At 12.51 pm on 22 February, 2011, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Canterbury region, causing widespread damage and multiple fatalities. At the t... Read more »

Mood turns up for local listings

Wed, 16 Mar 2011

The NZX 50 Gross Index was up +0.95% for February, an increase of a scale similar to January’s performance. Against a background of fears that New Zea... Read more »

Market split over differing economic prospects

Wed, 16 Mar 2011

February was another strong month for equity markets. The MSCI All Countries World Index (in local currencies) rose 2.4%, gaining 21% in just six mont... Read more »

Quake shakes domestic yield curve

Wed, 16 Mar 2011

Aside from the heavy human cost, financial markets have been grappling with the economic implications of the latest Christchurch earthquake disaster f... Read more »

Asset allocation and currency

Wed, 16 Mar 2011

Asset allocation and currency hedging were not changed during the month of February. Asset allocation continued to be set at the Strategic Asset Alloc... Read more »

Commodities get "Gaddafied"

Wed, 16 Mar 2011

Commodities markets were thrown into turmoil by the explosion of political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly the revolt in Liby... Read more »

Let the Great Handover begin!

Wed, 16 Mar 2011

The latest major earthquake in Christchurch has dominated New Zealand’s news media and perhaps distracted some attention away from what has been happe... Read more »

Market movements as at 28 February 2011

Wed, 16 Mar 2011

Market Movements as at 28 February 2011 Read more »

Estimating your retirement income gap and savings needed to fill it

Tue, 01 Feb 2011

A two-step process for a quick “guesstimate” Read more »

Closing the retirement gap

Tue, 01 Feb 2011

How much income do you think you will need to live on in retirement? How much will the government pay in New Zealand Superannuation and how much extra... Read more »

Portrait of TOWER KiwiSaver Scheme Fund

Tue, 01 Feb 2011

The TOWER KiwiSaver Growth Fund is a popular choice within the range of active funds. The Fund is a more aggressive choice within the TOWER KiwiSaver ... Read more »

Did you know...

Tue, 01 Feb 2011

The newly upgraded TOWER KiwiSaver Scheme members' website has a news feed service that can keep you up to date with markets, investments, and economi... Read more »

Property investing with the TOWER KiwiSaver Scheme

Tue, 01 Feb 2011

The TOWER KiwiSaver Scheme has a number of funds that allocate investments to commercial property in New Zealand. One of the properties invested in is... Read more »

Bonds mark time in jobless recovery

Tue, 01 Feb 2011

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand signalled that there would not likely be interest rate hikes until mid- 2011 Read more »

Private buyers support property market

Tue, 01 Feb 2011

Capital gains are projected to be flat for property over 2011 Read more »

No changes during the month of January

Tue, 01 Feb 2011

Asset allocation and currency hedging were not changed during the month of January Read more »

Inflation and its discontents

Tue, 01 Feb 2011

Inflationary signals are starting to intensify as we go into the period in which governments plan to hand over the burden of economic recovery to the ... Read more »