BUSINESS

Despite the recent floods, an extraordinary change of mood has gripped the Philippines, the sense of a new beginning.

The Australian sharemarket maintained its losses throughout the afternoon, to end lower for the third time this week. Despite the pullback, the local market has still improved for seven of the past nine trading weeks. Shares have jumped by 2 pct so far this month and are adding to July's 3.7 pct gains.

Apple’s iPad has provided much of the leg for the global tablet market to march through incredible growth in the June 2012 quarter, gaining 77 per cent from the overall shipments of the gadget over the past 12 months.

Minister for Resources Martin Ferguson belied on Friday speculations that Australia's mining boom is coming to an end. While recent decisions by resource companies indicate a slowdown based on shelving or cancellation of multibillion-dollar projects, there are many ongoing ventures as well as newly approved applications that show the sector is still robust.

The Australian sharemarket is losing ground following yesterday's modest improvement. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 0.8 pct or 37.3 pts to 4374.5.

Following a quiet summer, gold has just risen to four-month highs. BullionVault founder Paul Tustain puts the action in context.

Gina Rinehart is having her sweet revenge on the Fairfax Media board, which rejected her bid to become director, by attempting to dump her shares of the financially challenged company.

By Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportNot surprisingly, we've seen a bit of cautious negativity on stock markets this week with the Dow Jones off three days on a trot.

Have we told you how much we love Argentina? It's a dream... at least for an economist with an 'I-told-you-so' bent and a sense of mischief. For everyone else, it is a nightmare.

What central banks are intervening in the market to support the Australian dollar, and what does it mean for gold?

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 115 points or 0.9% while the S&P lost 0.8% to 1403 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.7%.

Following a slight pullback yesterday, the Australian sharemarket managed to improve for the second time this week. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose by 0.2 pct or 8.5 pts to 4411.8. The index is one of the most popular ways to measure market performance on the local sharemarket.

South Korea tech giant Samsung recently opened its electronics store in Sydney that bears resemblance to the Apple Store a few blocks away.

After a restless session on overseas markets the Aussie market opened higher this morning. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) lifted at the start of trade, helped by gains in mining and banking stocks, up 24 points. But by lunch the market had reacted to the weaker than expected read on Chinese manufacturing and lost momentum with the All Ordinaries Index only holding on to a 1 point gain.

The Asian Development Bank announced on Thursday the signing of a road transport agreement between China and Vietnam which opened a 1,300-kilometre road that links the two Asian nations.

Westpac Bank, one of the big four which used to defy Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) overnight cash rate policies, is recommending more interest rate cuts to boost the Australian economy.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 30 points or 0.2% while the S&P closed flat at 1413 and the Nasdaq gained 0.

The Australian sharemarket ended a touch lower by close of trade, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) easing by just 0.2 pct or 7.5 pts to 4403.3. On two occasions, the market briefly snuck into positive territory only to fall back into the red a few minutes later.

Former mobile phones leader Nokia remains a king on its own right, but its current fiefdom appears not large enough for the struggling firm to reverse flagging fortunes, reports said.

Chinese assemblers of iPhones and iPads now work a reduced average of 60 hours each week, according to the update report released Tuesday by Washington-based Fair Labor Association (FLA).

After a strong session here at home yesterday that pushed the All Ordinaries to a 3 and a half month high, markets in Europe moved higher overnight. As the trading day moved on money moved into mining stocks and commodity prices on comments from Chinese officials that more economic stimulus could eventuate in the next month or two. US markets fell away from the open of trade as investors took profits, especially in the tech sector, and the index closed below 4 year highs.

By Anders Aslund, senior fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics and Adjunct Professor, Georgetown UniversityIt has become increasingly fashionable to talk about Europe without the euro.

Despite the apparent slowdown of Australia's resource sector, mining giant CITIC Pacific expects full production of its $8-billion iron ore mine in Western Australia even if the project has been hit by delays.

The anticipated released of BHP Billiton's (ASX: BHP) full year financial results on Wednesday was not over an expected profit decline, but the mining giants intentions on expansion plans.

Among Australian states, Queensland has the most number of mortgage defaults, a report by Fitch Ratings released on Wednesday said.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 68 points or 0.5% while the S&P lost 0.4% to 1413 and the Nasdaq fell 0.

The big infusion of cash that sent Mark Zuckerberg and his fledgling college enterprise on their way came from Accel Partners, in 2004.

Legal experts on both sides of the Atlantic argue that the SFO is too weak to live up to its promises; and say that the more aggressive U.S. system could be a far likelier source of prosecutions.

As drought conditions persist well into late summer across the majority of U.S. states, agricultural production continues to be well below normal, meaning consumers will literally be paying the price for so much crop destruction.