There was no excitement on the Australian sharemarket today after the previous two record closing highs. The All Ordinaries Index added half a point to 6,491 and the ASX 200 slipped one point to 6,481.

The Australian economy has grown strongly in the first quarter of this year, and New Zealand's central bank has announced a surprise interest rate increase. Claudia Blume in Hong Kong has more on these and other business stories from the Asia-Pacific region.