ASB Securities Morning Brief for Friday, 12 March 2010

A group of well-known New Zealand businessmen are sounding out appetite for a new internet fibre cable venture to link with Australia and the western United States seaboard... Read more

A multimillion-dollar fibre internet link to the United States is likely to provoke a strong response from the existing Telecom-backed cable company.... Read more

The Government has welcomed an ambitious proposal by three of the country's highest-profile businessmen to build a $900 million submarine communications cable linking New Zealand, Australia and the United States... Read more

Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Alan Bollard kept the official cash rate unchanged at 2.5%, as expected, and reiterated a mid-year start to rate hikes, saying the subdued pace of recovery will restrain inflation... Read more

Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard stuck to the script in leaving interest rates unchanged and indicating he may start hiking about the middle of the year.... Read more

House buyers on floating mortgage rates should plan for interest rates to rise about 3 per cent to about 8.6 per cent or higher by early 2012 according to a leading economist... Read more

New Zealand's dollar fell after the central bank kept its policy assessment virtually unchanged from its review in December, saying the nation's economic recovery will be subdued... Read more

New Zealand's amended Emissions Trading Scheme will stoke inflation starting next year, driving up prices of petrol and electricity, Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard say... Read more

New Zealand's economy has emerged as the one least affected by the global financial crisis, while Australia's performance is dubbed as "middling" in a study of international country debt by Westpac Banking Corporation... Read more

At least $15 million is now believed to be missing from an Auckland financial advisory firm, according to investigators probing the collapse of the company... Read more

Money allegedly salted away by Bridgecorp boss Rod Petricevic is at the centre of High Court proceedings... Read more

The directors of embattled Huljich Wealth Management have asked the Securities Commission to vet a letter they propose sending to the fund's investors, explaining why former chief executive Peter Huljich was forced to quit and offering them an exit route, without penalty, to other KiwiSaver funds... Read more

Infratil, which is in advanced talks to acquire assets from Shell New Zealand, said there is substantial upside value in being an overtly New Zealand-owned dominant petrol company as the local oil industry restructures, according to an investor presentation lodged with NZX... Read more

A shake-up in petrol station ownership looks set to continue as global oil giant ExxonMobil continues to investigate the sale of its New Zealand distribution and retailing, or downstream, business... Read more

New Zealand manufacturing continued its slow but steady increase in output in February, with increased production and employment underpinning expansion... Read more

New Zealand food prices declined by 1.3% in February on the back of falls in fruit and vegetable costs, as well as lowered meat, poultry and fish prices... Read more

TrustPower expects electricity market reforms to drive customer churn as state-owned electricity retailers ditch and replace customers in different areas, reflecting asset swaps ordered in a December review by Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee... Read more

Graeme Hart has retained his place as Australasia's richest man despite slipping down the world rankings in the Forbes Billionaires list... Read more

Methanol producer Methanex plans to get involved in the gas exploration industry in New Zealand... Read more

Drilling of the wildcat Hoki-1 well by AWE has reached a depth of 1505 metres as it targets a total depth of approximately 3570 metres... Read more

Television New Zealand is looking at radical solutions to trim $30 million to $40 million from budgets - including halving the 6pm news hour.... Read more

NZX has confirmed that Allied Farmers won't be included in the NZX50 Index at this time, but will be considered for inclusion at the June review... Read more

Long-suffering Lombard Group shareholders have the opportunity to recoup a fraction of their investment in the failed financial company after approving an Australian insurance company's offer for the shell as a backdoor listing on the New Zealand stock exchange... Read more

MARAC Finance has been approved under the extended Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme... Read more

Natural sweetener biotech company BioVittoria, whose IPO last year struck a sour note with investors, says it expects to have a significant new overseas investor by the end of June.... Read more

Wakefield Health, which operates two private hospitals in Wellington and one in Hastings, plans to acquire a controlling interest in the fourth facility, Tauranga's Grace Hospital... Read more

Another company in Invercargill property developer Ross Wensley's Queenstown empire has been placed into liquidation.... Read more

Stock Takes. Restaurant Brands, the local operator of fast food chains KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks Coffee, has gone from strength to strength during the recession... Read more

Daily Sharechat. Despite Contact Energy's first-half results being lower than expected, "we now feel the value proposition is too strong to ignore," says Macquarie Equities analyst Stephen Hudson... Read more

NZ Market Report. Shares were mixed after the central bank kept its benchmark interest rate at a record low, helping push down the kiwi dollar. Fast-food franchise company Restaurant Brands gained and foodmaker Goodman Fielder declined... Read more

Australian Market Report. The Australian sharemarket ended flat in quiet trading as weaker-than-expected jobs data, followed by above-consensus Chinese inflation data, dampened investor enthusiasm, after the market hit a seven-week high on further gains on Wall Street... Read more

The Reserve Bank has indirectly accused Australia's major banks of profiteering on interest rates... Read more

One in five audits conducted by the nation's major accounting firms delivers an opinion that the auditor cannot verify.... Read more

Commercial free-to-air TV networks are calling on advertisers to cut them some slack over figures that appear to confirm fears audiences are fleeing to digital... Read more

The unemployment rate crept higher to 5.3 per cent in February, after January's figure was revised down to 5.2 per cent... Read more

Shares in Myer, still stranded 16 per cent below their float price, fail to get any upward momentum from upbeat profit result.... Read more

Peter Gammell is confident a controversial $3 billion bid to merge the Seven Network with private equipment group WesTrac will go ahead.... Read more

Second-half profits at the country's two largest insurers will take a big hit in the aftermath of the wild storms in Victoria and Queensland... Read more

The opposition continued its assault on the government's plan to split Telstra yesterday, using the plight of mum-and-dad shareholders as its main weapon against the proposed bill... Read more

The world's top iron ore producer, Brazil's Vale, is reportedly seeking a 90 per cent increase in prices and trying to shift from annual to quarterly contracts.... Read more

Australia's exports of iron ore and coal rose to record levels in the December quarter, buoyed by strong demand from Japan, Korea and China... Read more

Online gambling firm Centrebet says it first became aware of possible takeover proposals last month but did not tell the market until this week for reasons of confidentiality... Read more

A carbon credits company, Prime Carbon, has been found guilty by the Federal Court of Australia of making misleading green claims.... Read more

Commissioning of Australia's fourth uranium mine begins next month, with first production set to take place before the end of the year... Read more

Australia's securitisation market has stalled, partly because investors are wary of buying high-yield, high-risk securities... Read more

The federal government is likely to come under pressure to change copyright laws after a court decided last month that Telstra's Yellow Pages and White Pages directories were not protected because they were the work of computers rather than identifiable authors... Read more

Macquarie Group, which made five North American acquisitions last year, may buy more US assets, adding investment banking expertise for servicing mid-sized companies... Read more

Internet service provider iiNet Ltd says it is discussing a takeover of rival Netspace, but a decision to proceed with the transaction is yet to be made... Read more

The Nine network has become the latest business to put a toe into the waters of social media, hiring one of Australia's biggest digital media agencies to guide it... Read more

Centro Retail Trust has caused a flurry of interest with the appointment of Robert Tsenin as its new chief executive.... Read more

The bill to extend the Do Not Call Register to include businesses has been struck from the federal parliamentary schedule, representing a clear victory for the advertising and marketing industry... Read more

A former marketing manager at the Commonwealth Bank says the bank embarked on a ''campaign to denigrate'' her after she claimed to have been sexually harassed and bullied by senior managers... Read more

Days after trying to flog the Qant.as domain name to the Flying Kangaroo, online entrepreneur Dominic Holland has struck again -- with Westpac Bank in his sights.... Read more

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch celebrated his 79th birthday yesterday but, it seems, age has not wearied him... Read more

Malcolm Maiden. Bernie Brookes reckons he and his executive team have done everything they can to get Myer's revenue and profit lines flying. The problem is, everything isn't enough... Read more

Ian McIlwraith. Myer Holdings' near 75 per cent fall in bottom-line earnings for the January half-year added insult to injury for shareholders who took up stock at $4.10 in the $2.3 billion public float last October... Read more

Stephen Bartholomeusz. Now in the final six months of its turnaround program, Myer has to generate top-line growth over its now smaller and more variable cost base to keep investors onside... Read more

David Symons. Investors in Primary Health are still reeling from a December half in which the company underperformed in all three of its major divisions... Read more

Elizabeth Knight. The balance of power between the Rudd government and Telstra in the struggle to force the telco's structural separation has shifted over the past couple of days, with the very real possibility the government's bill to force this commercially devastating outcome will be defeated... Read more

Bryan Frith. Whatever happened to the "preliminary proposal" by Meijin Energy of a $220 million cash offer for Rocklands Richfield?... Read more

U.S. Market Report. An updated report of the latest action on Wall Street... Read more

World Market Report. An updated report of the worlds' latest market movements... Read more

Mexican Carlos Slim overtakes Bill Gates as the world's richest man, according to the Forbes "rich list", with a fortune of $53.5bn... Read more

The US trade deficit fell unexpectedly in January, following a big drop in imports of oil and foreign cars... Read more

Household wealth in the U.S. grew in the fourth quarter at a slower pace, limited by a drop in home values that indicates the recovery in consumer spending will take time to gain speed... Read more

U.K. Chancellor Alistair Darling has warned people not to expect a "giveaway" when the government's Budget is announced later this month... Read more

About 24,000 clients of HSBC's private banking operation in Switzerland had personal details stolen, the bank admits... Read more

Thousands of people march through Athens as part of a 24-hour nationwide strike to protest against austerity measures by the governmen... Read more

The union representing BA cabin crew says there will be no immediate announcement about strike dates... Read more

The global airline industry will recover strongly this year, as both passenger and freight numbers improve, the industry's trade body has said... Read more

Commodities fell and the yen strengthened on increasing speculation that China, the world' fastest-growing economy, will slow its expansion to control inflation.... Read more

European politicians and regulators could initiate a continent-wide ban on speculative trading of sovereign credit-default swaps tomorrow. Making it stick without the Americans won't work... Read more

Oil giant BP has announced a deal that will allow it to begin exploring off the coast of Brazil.... Read more

Fast food joints are scrambling to find alternate sources for one of America's favorite sandwich toppings after a winter freeze took a huge bite out of Florida's tomato harvest.... Read more

Daihatsu Motor Company announced Thursday that it was recalling more than 274,000 vehicles for problems with their suspension systems... Read more

Fiat SpA, the Italian carmaker that helped Chrysler Group LLC emerge from bankruptcy, may wait to turn around the U.S. business before deciding on a share sale or spinoff for its automotive division... Read more

Three months after he replaced Fritz Henderson as CEO of General Motors, Ed Whitacre is getting a rude introduction to life in a single-industry town.... Read more

It's dawning on people that getting a handle on burgeoning U.S. debt will be a long and hard process. So if lawmakers can't agree on a credible plan, some have suggested that the country could just "inflate its way" out of its fiscal ditch... Read more