Australian shares failed to maintain early gains and finished modestly lower this holiday-shortened trading session. Volume was very light; in fact today was the quietest day of 2014 with only $1.3bn worth of shares traded.
Oil prices have been dropping continuously since July this year, raising concerns in some countries.
Australian shares are flat in what has been a volatile but quiet week for local stocks. The ASX 200 is up just 2pts at lunch, slumped by 1 per cent yesterday and surged by 1.5 per cent on Monday. It has been half as busy as usual so far this week - with investors in holiday mode. Today is likely to be an uneventful session for the Australian market as the ASX will be closing at 14:10pm AEDT (two hours earlier than usual).
Even before Indonesian officials confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crashed and is on the ocean floor, the embattled air carrier's share had plummeted 13 percent on new of its disappearance on Sunday.
RetireAustralia, the fourth biggest retirement village company in Australia, was bought for $670 million by NZ Superannuation and Infratil.
Authorities arrested and sent to jail on Tuesday Cho Hyun-Ah, the Korean Air vice president whose rage over being served macadamia nuts in a plastic bag instead of on a plate delayed the plane's departure and arrival.
Global markets are set to finish the year with a bit of downside on the back of resurfacing Greece concerns. Some analysts feel another Greek political debacle will make it harder for ECB President Mario Draghi to pursue his grand plan of sovereign bond purchases given opposition from other northern nations such as Germany. There will be little event risk to look out for across the region today with some key markets like Japan already closed for New Year's related holidays. Perhaps China's...
Australian shares extended their losses this afternoon to shed 1 per cent and wipe out a chunk of yesterday's 1.5 per cent surge.
Because of yearend revelry wherein Australians would consume alcohol or travel to other places, many adults would misplace their wallets and bags, resulting in lost credit cards.
Australian shares are easing for just the second time in eight trading sessions following yesterday's 2.5 per cent surge. The ASX 200 Index is down by 0.3 per cent on light volume due to the holiday interrupted trading week.
The macadamia nut industry has resigned Korea Air Vice President Heather Cho to thank for because her air rage over being served the nuts in a plastic bag instead of a plate saw a large increase in demand for the controversial nut in South Korea.
Start the year with a fresh approach to handling money
With no sign of the missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 after two days of surveillance, the search was widened on Tuesday in terms of a bigger area and more teams joining.
Russian economy has been under pressure from economic sanctions imposed by the U.S and the European Union and low oil prices.
The main headline from overnight trade was Greece's failure to elect presidential nominee Stavros Dimas in its final attempt. After two failed attempts, yesterday was parliament's last chance to elect him as president before being forced into an early election. Having failed yet again, the country will be headed back to the polls as early as January 25. An election puts all sorts of doubt on the future of the bailout agreement given anti-austerity party Syriza is currently leading the poll...
In US economic data, the Dallas Federal Reserve manufacturing index eased from +10.5 to +4.1 in December.
Fear of Ebola is preventing people from Guinea and other west African countries from getting necessary attention on malaria.
Fears have emerged that Australia's investor visa scheme may be used by corrupt Chinese officials to escape liability.
More Australians are giving unwanted Christmas presents that is why for 2014, the number of such gifts rose to 20.3 million from 14.2 million in 2013.
Listed shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) had been named the most traded stock among retail investors in 2014. The stock split in June allowed small investors to trade more of the company's stocks.
Airlift rescue operations continue on the burning Norman Atlantic off the island of Corfu.
Australian shares surged despite a substantial fall in market activity (volume). The ASX 200 Index extended earlier gains to finish 1.5 per cent firmer by close; finishing at intraday highs.
No Canadians were believed to have been passengers on board the ill-fated AirAsia Flight QZ8501 that went missing on Sunday.
Australian shares are kicking off the holiday shortened trading week firmer, with the ASX 200 Index up 0.8 per cent. This is the first session of trade since last Wednesday and historically the next few weeks are usually quiet for local stocks.
Air Asia Flight QZ 8501 made headlines yesterday when the aircraft went missing en route to Singapore and now rescuers believe that the plane is now on the ocean floor.
Although the fate of the missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 is still unknown, the fact that it has been gone with no contact for more than 24 hours is an indicator the jet possibly had the same fate of the still missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
In what seems to be a repeat of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, AirAsia Flight QZ8501 remains missing for around 24 hours as nations stepped up offers of help to search for the Singapore-bound jet with 162 people aboard.
Falling oil prices in the past few months have got the producers of the commodity concerned.
US equities continued to drift higher on Friday despite most global markets being closed for Christmas and Boxing Day holidays. In fact, US equities went on to print fresh record highs again with investors happy to continue following the trend. Data was also limited in that time but there continued to be some commentary out of key emerging markets
In US economic data released on Christmas Eve, initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 280,000, their fourth straight week of declines, and below the forecast of 290,000.
