A local company has secured the rights to market Caterpillar's new range of trucks in New Zealand.

The Weekly Overview is written by Tony Alexander. The views expressed are my own and do not purport to represent the views of the BNZ. Data released this week shows an economy still not picking up. Exports have fallen 0.6% in the three months to February, jobs growth has slowed to 0.3% from 0.5% three months earlier, and capital goods imports have declined 7%.

Fonterra Cooperative Group, the world's biggest exporter of dairy products, posted an 18 percent gain in first-half profit on increased sales and higher prices from its ingredients business in a period when it collected record volumes of milk.

There is strong interest from the investing public in the partial floats of state-owned enterprises, but take-up of each individual company will depend on pricing, say brokers and bankers.