Wellington, June 21 NZPA - ANZ National Bank and Kiwibank are increasing some mortgage rates after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.75 percent earlier this month.

Wellington, June 21 NZPA - ANZ National Bank has increased its variable, six month and one year mortgage rates after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.75 percent earlier this month.

Wellington, June 21 NZPA - Telecom New Zealand said Sue Sheldon has been appointed as an independent director with effect from today.

Wellington, June 18 NZPA - The New Zealand dollar traded near a month high today and investors started looking ahead to next week's gross domestic product and current account data. The NZ dollar was at US70.39c at 5pm from US70.35c at 8am and US69.57c at 5pm yesterday.

Wellington, June 17 NZPA - ASB has become the first major bank to raise its variable mortgage rate since the Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked the official cash rate by 25 basis point to 2.75 percent last week.

Wellington, June 15 NZPA - The residential property market is healthy despite a decline in the median house price in May, with a modest annual growth rate indicating that the Reserve Bank's interest rate strategy is working, an economist says.

Wellington, June 14 NZPA - The New Zealand dollar spent most of today above US69c after strengthening during the weekend. The NZ dollar was at US69.28c at 5pm from US69.08c at 8am, and 68.03c at 5pm Friday.

Wellington, June 14 NZPA - Retail sales fell by 0.3 percent in April as department store sales fell 3.3 percent, but economists see no need for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) to adjust monetary policy.

Wellington, June 14 NZPA - The New Zealand dollar opened stronger this morning, pushing slightly above the US69-mark as it continued to benefit from last week's interest rate rise. The NZ dollar was at US69.08c at 8am, up from 68.03c at 5pm Friday, and US68.74c at 8am Friday.

Wellington, June 11 NZPA - The New Zealand dollar came under a little pressure from profit taking today but still finished above US68c.