Australia & New Zealand

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• Australia Retail Sales Subdued, Rate Cut Looms Sunday, 5 Feb 2012 | 9:01 PM ET

  

  Australian retail sales slipped unexpectedly in December as consumers spent less on food and eating out, a soft end to a subdued quarter for shops and another reason to expect a cut in interest rates this week.

• Australia Flies Aid to Flooded Town, Risk to Coal Areas Thursday, 2 Feb 2012 | 9:13 PM ET

  

  An Australian military aircraft on Friday was due to deliver needed supplies to a flood-stricken town hit by the worst of summer flooding in eastern parts of the country, with coal mining and agriculture also affected.

• Aussie Dollar to Fall to 80-90 Cents by Year-End: Analyst Monday, 30 Jan 2012 | 1:27 AM ET

  

  Despite facing a series global headwinds and soft numbers out of Australia in recent weeks, the Aussie dollar has remained resilient — rising 3.5 percent since the start of the year. But one analyst is calling for the commodity currency to drop as low as 80 to 90 cents against the U.S. dollar by the end of 2012 on increasing downside risks.

• Earthquake Reconstruction to Add to NZ GDP: PM  Sunday, 29 Jan 2012 | 8:38 PM ET

  

  New Zealand's Prime Minister, John Keys, says rebuilding will start as soon as the ongoing seismic activity calms down and that it will add approximately 1% to New Zealand's GDP for the next 10 years.

• Aussie Dollar Decouples to Race to Highs Wednesday, 25 Jan 2012 | 7:25 PM ET

  

  Australians are leaving their country in large numbers. Over the past year, a record 7.6 million local resident have left the country on short-term trips, HSBC says, as they take advantage of the strength of the Australian dollar to travel abroad. The Financial Times reports.

• RBNZ Keeps Rates on Hold  Wednesday, 25 Jan 2012 | 5:30 PM ET

  

  Hamish Pepper, FX Strategist, Asia Pacific, Barclays Capital expects the RBNZ to start increasing rates in the second half of 2012.

• Asia Pacific's Top Paid Politicians Wednesday, 4 Jan 2012 | 9:55 PM ET

  

  Multi-billion dollar corruption in India and a whopping 36 percent cut in the salary for Singapore's prime minister have once again raised the question: How much should politicians be paid?

• Continued Convergence of Global Yields in 2012  Tuesday, 3 Jan 2012 | 6:40 PM ET

  

  Matt Huang, Strategist, Macquarie Asian Markets, says one of the trends investors will observe in 2012 is the continued convergence of global yields. He adds Australia will be one of the countries that benefits from this.

• New Zealand's Violent Gangs Try to Clean Up Their Act Monday, 2 Jan 2012 | 10:27 PM ET

  

  Home to some breathtaking landscape, New Zealand is also host to violent gangs. But some groups are now trying to re-brand themselves and set a possible example worldwide.

• Low Credit Demand Helps Australian Banks  Sunday, 18 Dec 2011 | 5:30 PM ET

  

  Paul Dowling, Principal Analyst,Principal Analyst, East and Partners says the depressed demand for credit is saving Aussie banks, and that if current domestic deposit taking continues at its current traction, it could dramatically decrease rollover funding.

• Telstra Trade Strategy  Wednesday, 30 Nov 2011 | 10:10 PM ET

  

  Wai Yee Chen, head of derivatives at RBS Morgans, discusses her two-part Telstra trade strategy for a profitable investment.

• Australia Third Quarter Capital Spending Rises 12.3% Tuesday, 29 Nov 2011 | 8:03 PM ET

  Australian private new capital expenditure rose 12.3 percent in the third quarter in  seasonally adjusted real terms, compared with the previous quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.

• Australia Felt Like Home: Obama  Wednesday, 16 Nov 2011 | 6:40 PM ET

  

  President Obama tells Australia's parliament, the country felt like home when he visited as a young boy from Indonesia.

• Top Picks: Engenco, Village Roadshow, Tissue Therapies  Monday, 14 Nov 2011 | 10:40 PM ET

  

  Sebastian Evans, fund manager at Naos Asset Management, discusses the hidden value in Village Roadshow's film production business, Engenco's good turnaround track record, and Tissue Therapies' potential partnership deal.

• Sell Australian Bank Stocks: Analyst  Sunday, 13 Nov 2011 | 10:40 PM ET

  

  Justin Braitling, director of Watermark Funds Management, says that due to a shift of resources into banks last quarter, the sector is trading at high levels now and banking stocks look expensive.

• Australian Fund Managers Sit on Cash as Markets Seesaw Thursday, 10 Nov 2011 | 7:08 PM ET

  

  While consumer confidence surged to a six-month high in Australia this week driven by a cut in interest rates, some Australian fund managers still unsure of what direction the markets will take, prefer to sit on cash.

• Invest in Aussie Banks for Attractive Yields: Fund Manager Wednesday, 9 Nov 2011 | 5:55 PM ET

  

  Amid the currently volatility in global equity markets, Steve O'Hanna, Investment Manager, Fat Prophets Funds Management, says Australian financials are a bright spot offering both attractive value and yields.

• Australia Business Confidence Ticks Up in October Monday, 7 Nov 2011 | 9:22 PM ET

  

  Australian business conditions softened slightly n October but  firms grew more confident on he future as speculation swirled about a possible cut in interest rates, a survey showed on Tuesday.

• Australia Business Confidence Hit in Third Quarter, Outlook Brighter Monday, 7 Nov 2011 | 9:12 PM ET

  

  Australian business confidence suffered a sharp fall in the third quarter, yet investment intentions remained strong, a survey on Thursday showed, offering hope that a tentative rebound in sentiment in September will persist. 

• ANZ CEO: Looking to Buy Banking Assets Over Next 6 Months Thursday, 3 Nov 2011 | 10:37 PM ET

  

  ANZ 's CEO  Alex Thursby tells CNBC  thathe is willing to look at assets put up for sale by  other banks as they try to become more efficient.