BUSINESS

Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon 5-10-13

Friday's session largely boiled down to a tug of war between the resources and banks. As has been the case all week the miners won and financials underperformed. At face value Friday's performance appears underwhelming. The ASX200 finished with a gain of almost 8 points, having squandered an early lead of 44 points at its best levels which were seen in late morning trade. Investors appeared happy for some book squaring ahead of the weekend after the market gained 1.7% in the last 5 days.

Australian Stock Market Report – Midday 5-10-13

The main talking point in the early part of Asian trade has been the sharp rally in the US dollar as the Wall Street day was winding down. Many unilluminating rationalisations for the move have been offered, most of them turning around the US Fed's mindset towards quantitative easing. The better reading overnight in relation to the number of US unemployed claiming benefits was seen as adding credence to this view.
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Australian Stock Market Report – Midday 5-9-13

The Australian market has extended its gains following much better than forecast job numbers and an unsurprising inflation report in China. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 0.2 per cent or 11.7 pts to 5,189.6, making it the third day of improvements this week. There were 50,100 jobs added in April, 34,500 of which were full-time positions. The unemployment rate eased from 5.6 per cent to 5.5 per cent and the participation rate (the percentage of working-age Australians either employed or loo...

ACCC Issues Warning As Scammers Target Travellers

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Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon 5-8-13

The ASX 200 Index closed at a near five year high today, as investor sentiment was boosted by record closes on the US Dow Jones and S&P 500 Indices, as well as better than expected Chinese trade data. The ASX 200 closed just shy of 5200 points, its best finish since June 30, 2008.

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