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Deep within the Government's Budget can be found mysterious references to "black hole expenditure" and "thin capitalisation rules".

The financial markets were underwhelmed by the Government's Budget, although a $3 billion cut in its borrowing requirement over next two years came as some surprise to many.

Units in the Fonterra Shareholders Fund hit a record high this week, despite ongoing increases in dairy product prices, prompting some in the industry to question whether investors fully understand the factors at work.

The once-troubled finance company Dorchester Pacific said today it would resume dividend payments this year for the first time since 2007.

Rain has fallen in most of the nation's dairying areas over the last week or so, but Fonterra chairman John Wilson said it will take six weeks to determine whether the drought that has hit most of the country has caused any lasting damage.

Contact Energy's share price dropped by 3.5 per cent this morning, partly in response to uncertainty over the future of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter but also to an end-of-quarter price spike last week.

APN News and Media's share price fell by 4c (11.1 per cent) to 32c on light volume when New Zealand share trading resumed today after the resignation of the chief executive and several directors late yesterday.

Ireland's Independent News & Media has been successful in engineering a major exodus from the APN News & Media board, and in putting a stop to a planned capital raising.

If exporters thought this year was hard going, then 2013 is shaping up to be even tougher if the pundits prove correct and the New Zealand dollar continues to grind its way higher.

Westland Milk Products has no plans to follow Fonterra and open up its business to private investors, despite what appears to be an voracious appetite for protein-related assets, chief executive Rod Quin said today.

Fonterra has declined to comment on a report it is talking to China Investment Corp about participation in the upcoming Fonterra Shareholders Fund, other than to say that it was talking to a large number of institutions.

Fonterra's $500 million share market offer has attracted strong investor interest, requiring brokers to heavily scale back investor applications for units in the fund, market sources said.

The Bank of New Zealand has posted a double-digit increase in its cash profit for 2011-12, driven mostly by a 35 per cent reduction in bad debt but also by improved margins and cost-cutting.

Big events like the Rugby World Cup do not make the host countries richer, independent economic research group NZIER said.

Michael Stiassny and Brendon Gibson, the receivers of HireQuip's parent companies, said they had entered into exclusive talks with Next Capital, an Australian private equity firm, to sell the HireQuip business.

New Zealand's inflation rate was so low over the September year that some economists said the Reserve Bank's next move could be to cut its official cash rate, and not raise it as many had predicted.