To come back to Zorwarrior's query - actually the best place to do your research is on the websites of companies you are interested in. Go and read some annual reports and familiarise yourself with how to read balance sheets/statements of financial performance. They also have a lot of information about a company's culture, achievements and aspirations. This can be informative.

All companies provide updates to the NZX (or other exchanges where they are listed). These can also be informative. You are probably already receiving these through the Yahoo stock tracker service you are up with.

Another quick and dirty service I use is stocknessmonster.co.nz - though it is pretty basic but interesting to compare stocks.

The other thing you can do is talk to financial analysts or financial journalists (if you know any or have access to them). They can provide big-picture insights and have a pretty good grasp of the environment (the smart ones do).

I find brokers reluctant to commit to anything - they don't want to be seen to be recommending something that might go west on them. Having said that many brokerage houses (Forsyth Barr and the like) have libraries full of research notes on companies. If you become a client of one of the full-service brokerages, you can gain access to their library. But do it soon before they all migrate to Australia!