Simon Hartley

A second shipping line is to reduce its Port Chalmers service.

Gold has passed the $US900 ($NZ1353) mark on the back of investors world-wide seeking a safe haven for cash.

Short selling in the sharemarkets of the United States and United Kingdom is coming in for a grilling as regulators on both sides of the Atlantic line up to launch investigations, including a temporary ban on the strategy.

Contact Energy briefly overtook Telecom as the country's largest listed company by market capitalisation as share prices seesawed on a combined $35.1 million of shares traded yesterday.

Oceana Gold share prices retraced some losses yesterday after the East Otago miner's share price slumped to a low of A44c, further slashing its market capitalisation to $80 million.

Gold surged a record $US94.40 ($NZ142.3) during overnight trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange - up from $US772.35 to $US866.75 - following the United States Government's $US85 billion bail out of ailing insurance giant American International Group (AIG).

Rogan McIndoe Print, in Dunedin, has been placed in the hands of liquidators, with the loss of 18 jobs, but it is unclear how much is owed to creditors.

Port Otago has delivered its first special dividend to owner the Otago Regional Council, boosting its overall dividend by $2.5 million for the year from $6.9 million to a record $9.5 million.

New Zealand will suffer from "credit rationing" when the full effects of the US financial troubles grip the world, but its sharemarket is better placed than other world markets.

Cadbury Confectionery has confirmed it will go ahead with a $51 million redevelopment of its Dunedin factory and that by the end of next year the first of 145 jobs are likely to go.

Volatility in currencies is expected during the week ahead as the New Zealand dollar wanes against the United States dollar, but it held about A82c against the Australian yesterday as investors went to safe-haven currencies such as the Japanese yen and greenback.

The United States "meltdown Monday" engulfed the Asian sharemarkets yesterday with losses ranging almost to 6% while the Australian and New Zealand bourses were down less than 3%.

Motorists will be expecting further fuel price cuts with global prices of a barrel of oil falling below $US100 ($NZ153) for the first time since that mark was reached in early January.

Manufacturing across the country remains in the doldrums with four consecutive months of decline, reflected in Otago with three months of decline and softening export figures.