BUSINESS

As the trading week wound down, regional markets were generally set to finish in positive territory. Notwithstanding various economic data points being released over the last 5 days, the overwhelming influence on market sentiment came from headlines related to political developments on the US fiscal Cliff. On that score the last 24 hours has yielded more optimism that US politicians will be resolve this critical matter in a timely fashion. They have 32 day left in which to deliver.

The Australian sharemarket is improving for the fourth time this week, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up 0.5 per cent or 20.7 pts to 4510.8. Global market rose overnight thanks to mostly positive economic news. A report showed that the U.S economy continues to grow; the number of Americans filing to receiving jobless benefits fell and there were additional positive signs for the U.S housing market.

Sony announced on Thursday the return to store shelves of its Xperia Tablet S after it temporarily pulled out the units due to a technical glitch. With its return, the device's phablet war with a similar device, the Microsoft Windows Surface, is expected to be revived.

By the end of 2016, at least 17 million mobile phones will be using 4G services in Australia with the spontaneous growth of smartphones and other mobile devices using this kind of network. That means within four years, almost half of all mobile connections in the country will be on 4G LTE.

Competition between Australia's two major stock exchanges is becoming tougher as the Chi-X and ASX disclosed separately measures designed to snare a larger slice of the stock market amid a background of weak trading and poor investment sentiment.

By Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportHere's what I expect to happen to stocks and the global economy as we head into the New Year, and I've thrown in a couple of stock tips as well.

The dust from Qantas's fallout with Tourism Australia over the alleged meddling of a private consortium at the air carrier's policies and decision has barely settled, yet new groups are in for the prowl ready to get a piece of the $40-million marketing deal with the airline.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 36 points, or 0.3%, while the S&P gained 0.4% to 1415 and the Nasdaq was up 0.

After a brief pullback yesterday, the Australian sharemarket benefited from a late surge in American equities overnight. This was following positive comments relating to the U.S fiscal cliff in late trade. The market has been extremely sensitive to comments concerning these budget deficit problems, which U.S parliament has a little over a month to resolve.

By all indications, the Lumia 920 is fast-becoming a hero phone for Nokia, which analysts said represents a much-needed push for a struggling firm that has seen lacklustre product debuts and market battering in the past few years.

The back page of today's Australian Financial Review has an illustration of a roided out Kangaroo, the kind you see on a one Australian dollar coin, but with Schwarzenegger like muscles. The story is called, 'Leaps and bounds in $A demand.'

Hurricane Sandy has the undesirable distinction of being one of the ten most expensive hurricanes in US history. In the days before Sandy impacted, it was forecast to be 'large, slow-moving and no doubt very costly.'

Local stocks are recording positive gains at lunchtime in the East, despite a fairly flat start to the trading session. Overnight, Wall Street staged a remarkable comeback on hopes an agreement on the Fiscal Cliff could be reached before Christmas.

Toyota Australia has expanded its hybrid family once more with the addition of the new luxury-spec Toyota Prius V i-Tech.

What is arguably the very last bastion of totally free speech is once again under assault by the world's tyrants, as the United Nations is now eying regulation of the Internet - as though it was in need of being regulated.

The RC helicopter you may have played with as a kid just got an upgrade: it can now be controlled with your mind.

Kia Australia believes that its localization program for its vehicles is a huge deal for its on-going success in our market.

There is a new tablet on the block. Not that new actually as Sony launched the Xperia Tablet S September this year only to withdraw it from the market a month after due to build defects.

The latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech released on Wednesday said that Apple regained the lead of smartphone sales in the U.S. market by garnering 48.1 per cent of total sales due to the release of iPhone 5.

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Balmer disclosed at the company's shareholder's meeting that sales of Windows Phone 8 were off to a great start. He attributes it to the combination of new software and more powerful hardware which resulted in four times as many sales compared to the same period in 2011.

With the recent release of Windows 8 and record-breaking sales, upgraders should be aware of at least five issues they may encounter as they move from Windows 7 to Windows 8.

Treasurer Wayne Swan reiterated on Wednesday that Australia's mining boom is not yet over despite falling prices of commodities in the world market and lower demand. He cited the $268.4 billion investment to major resources projects that mining companies had committed in the last six months to October.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 106 points, or 0.8%, while the S&P gained 0.8% to 1409 and the Nasdaq was also up 0.

The last 24 hours have been quite revealing in terms of the character of the market. From time to time the market discussion has turned to the matter of how well market sentiment is holding up in the face of US political uncertainty and the fiscal cliff. However this matter has been painted in a different light in the last day.The preceding 24 hours have largely been defined by good news. Common ground has finally been found between the IMF and Eurozone finance ministers in relation to the next ...

Australian tech retailer Dick Smith is joining the anticipated holiday push of Apple’s iPhone 5 via its exclusive unlocked offering for the popular handset, which starts selling Nov 28 at $788.

When the waters of Bondi Beach turned tomato red on Tuesday morning due to some "algal" infection of the waters, it elicited two types of reactions from the people who witnessed it. One was fear. But the others who were more hard-core adventurous, took a dip into the red waters. Now health authorities are worried those who swam in the infected waters could be at risk.

The local share market has followed Wall Street into the red in the early session. Sellers moved in on blue chip stocks in late trade in New York as talks between the Republicans and Democrats over the "Fiscal Cliff" issue stalled.

Without providing specifics, Microsoft said on Tuesday that it has identified the cause of the random reboots reportedly plaguing the Nokia Lumia 920 and the HTC Windows Phone 8X and a patch to repair the problem is set for a December deployment.

Amidst the ongoing management upheaval at Apple, the tech giant took some breather on Tuesday as new research data showed that the iPhone has snatched back the title as the bestselling smartphone, at least in the United States.