Hawaiian Electric Industries today announced a 2-for-1 stock split, a month after shares hit a 52-week high.

The effective date for the split is June 10. The parent of Hawaiian Electric Co. and American Savings Bank also plans to keep its current quarterly cash dividend of 62 cents, or $2.48 a year.

Price of regular gas keeps climbing

The average price of regular gasoline hit a high of $2.419 a gallon in Wailuku this morning, according to AAA travel club.

That's up 4 cents from a month ago and nearly 14 cents higher than a year ago. The year-ago price did not include a 5-cent increase in county gasoline taxes that took effect July 1, 2003.

Under the higher tax, Maui drivers pay 1.5 cents more per gallon in county taxes than those in Honolulu, where the average was $2.055 a gallon this morning. The remaining disparity between O'ahu and Maui prices is usually attributed to the higher cost of distributing gas to the Neighbor Islands and labor costs.