BUSINESS

Federal Court Justice Peter Jacobson ruled on Tuesday in favor of Metcash's and Pick n Pay's planned purchase of supermarket chain Franklins for $250 million because the transaction would not violate the country's anti-trust laws.

If anyone is most excited for the much-awaited launch of Apple’s iPhone 5, it should be none other than Samsung Electronics, which reportedly plans to block the sale of the smartphone on its own turf, South Korea.

The value of gold as an investment was further confirmed as mining executives in two separate gold fora forecast the precious metal's rise in price amid a weak global economy.

By Greg PeelThe Considerations for Monetary Policy section of the minutes of the RBA's September policy meeting were relatively brief.

Moody's Investors Service classified on Monday the corporate debts of Australian companies as attractive risk. With the classification, the Aussie firms will not find it difficult to refinance their $23 billion debt over the next two years, Herald Sun reports.

FNArena is surveying investor sentiment in Australia in an effort to generate, over time, a similarly leading gauge as the AAII Investor Sentiment Survey in the US.

Complicating matters last night were reports of another big loss for German Chancellor, Angela Merkel in a state election in Berlin on Sunday.

So was Premier Investments another victim of revealing a poor profit result on a down day for the wider market?

It was a bit of a crazy first day back on the boards for Tasmanian company Gunns, with the shares up and down like a timber fellers' convention.

Financial markets ended their best week in more than two months on Friday as the relief rally continued.

The US National Association of Home Builders sentiment index eased from +15 to +14 In September, below forecasts for a steady result.

The Australian Dollar opened under pressure yesterday and as ongoing European debt fears hampered Asian equity markets, our local dollar also continued lower.

U.S. stocks fell in volatile trading Monday, snapping a five-day winning streak as another round of worry over Greece's sovereign debt battered the market.

By Greg PeelLast week saw the 36th annual World Nuclear Association Symposium held in London, at which 650 nuclear industry professionals gathered.

By Marc Lichtenfeld, Investment U Senior AnalystYou hear that beeping sound?That's the sound of my truck backing up to load it with dividend stocks.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 108 points or 0.9% while the S&P lost 1.0% to 1204 and the Nasdaq fell 0.

The four-hour strike at Qantas which was supposed to start at 7 a.m. in many airports began 3:30 a.m. The early start was caused by the air carrier's alleged lockout of the 3,800 striking baggage handlers, ground staff and caterers.

GVK Group of India is set to close the funding requirements for its US $1.2 billion acquisition of Hancock Coal in Australia in the next few weeks.

Esprit has turned to the Chinese market to help increase its profitability and has embarked on a four-year investment program that will cost HK $18 billion.

Chinese automaker BYD Co. plans to sell as much as $939 million (6 billion yuan) worth of bonds as the company continues to seek ways to raise funds to keep operations alive and going.

With more than enough cash on their hands and a big buying power, China continued to buy U.S. notes and bonds, bolstering its holdings at the U. S. Treasuries to record at a $1.17 trillion.

China Southern stepped up an airline challenge to its closest rivals as it gears to introduce the Airbus A380 Aircraft superjumbos next month to service the Europe and North America routes.

The rally between two giant tech companies never stopped as Samsung filed a counter lawsuit against Apple under Australian ruling.

Apple Inc. got a ban of Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy Tab 7.7 in Germany, at a time when all device-makers were touting new gadgets at the IFA 2011. Apple also forced Samsung to pull the Samsung Galaxy S 2 off shelves in the Netherlands, and Samsung tablets in Australia.

There has been a lot of news leaks about the next iPhone that triggers the high expectations among fans and consumers on Apple’s soon-to-be-released product.

As rival telcos unveiled their new broadband pricing schemes, giant Telstra Corporation revealed on Monday new offerings that it hopes would continue to lure customers amidst the approaching roll out of the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Apple's iPhone 5 hasn't been released yet but Samsung is already planning to launch an aggressive legal campaign to ban the device in Korea.Insiders at the South Korean company told the Korea Times that the company plans to up its legal battle with Apple with the next generation of smartphones, starting with the much anticipated iPhone 5.

Qantas said more than 6,100 passengers will be affected on Tuesday by the Transport Workers Union's strike as the airline will be forced to cancel 28 flights and delay a further 27 flights by up to 35 minutes.

Facebook is joining forces with Twitter - does this spell doom for Google+? If the outcome depends on the numbers, Google+ could be dead. Facebook has more than 750 million active users and Twitter has 100 million, compared with only 20 million users and no signs of growth so far for Google's social network.