Sign up to get the latest stories and insights delivered to your inbox – free, every day.
A combined 3300 anaesthetists and ophthalmologists will head to New Zealand for their respective conferences next year, following a decision to allow advertising of medicines at medical conferences and trade shows. Regulation Minister David Seymour welcomed the bookings, which he said would jointly inject about $5 million into the local economy. Seymour said a previous prohibition on advertising, included in the Medicines Act 1981 to avoid pharmaceutical companies circumventing formal medicine approvals, was "overly cautious". The legislative reform to allow medicines yet to be approved by MedSafe to be advertised at medical conferences will be included in the Medicines Amendment Bill, expected to become law by the end of this year.
Global dairy prices have made gains at the latest overnight auction, with key export commodity whole milk powder up 1.7% to US$3928 per metric tonne. The broader GDT index also increased after four consecutive declines. Overall, dairy prices are still at strong levels and are reflected in a solid payout forecast to farmers. In late May, dairy giant Fonterra announced an opening forecast Farmgate Milk Price for the 2025/26 season of $10 per kg of milk solids, driven by stable market demand. ASB senior economist Mark Smith said there were positive signs for another strong year for dairy incomes. He said the agricultural sector provided crucial support to the economy and currency.
Infrastructure investor Infratil will be added to Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index on July 23. The announcement was made to the ASX platform late on Tuesday. Infratil replaces Western Australian gold miner Spartan Resources following its takeover by Ramelius Resources. Infratil was added to the ASX 300 index in a quarterly rebalance in September 2024 and the MSCI Global Standard Index in November 2024, the latter as a replacement for Spark NZ.