Bernard Hickey reviews the day's business news with Duncan Garner at RadioLive, Monday during drive-time, October 17, 2016.
You can hear their discussion here.
Bernard points out there is a dark side to the booming rise in tourism from China and the greatly increased number of flights direct from that country. He suspects there is a direct correlation between the rise in flight frequency and the importation of methamphetamine.
He reports the fall in the NZX50 index on Monday is directly linked to the rising prospects of a US rate rise. With NZ equities often providing a strong dividend yield, that gets hit when rates rise.
SkyCity shares have been hard hit today, as collateral damage from the Crown Casino arrests of management in China. Crown have been chasing high rollers from China, but the Chinese have been trying to block the obvious money-laundering risk from this source. SkyCity also is dependent on the business from Chinese high-rollers.
Auckland housing is another issue discussed between the two; there seems some evidence that transaction activity is lower recently with lower auction clearance rates, and some realtors reporting lower levels of buyer interest. This comes as the new 60% LVR rules bite for investors. But there remain amazing stories of some high-end houses selling for up to double their CV, especially when overseas buyers are active.
The attractivness of high-end Auckland housing may play a part in Chinese money laundering, and China is likely to crack down with capital controls to dampen this flow, reports Bernard.
This content was first released by RadioLive, and is here with permission.
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