BUSINESS

Industry executives predict that any hike in property prices will be more restrained as two property increases for 2011 are expected.

Total commercial property sales in the country for the year amounted to $7.8 billion with more than $5 million accounting for the office, retail and industrial sectors says a survey.

Germany’s Mercedes Benz continue to enthral Australian luxury car aficionados as the carmaker rolled out its 1000th unit this year and just a day after Christmas from the global company’s AMG Performance Studio.

Goodman Group and three global investors have made a cash offer to acquire 100 per cent of the ordinary units in ING Industrial Fund after four weeks of negotiation.

Seemingly unmindful of its mobile services woes, Vodafone pours million on advertisements that the telco hopes would lure new customers in light of the criticisms it now gets from disgruntled clients for apparent promises it could not deliver.

Leighton subsidiary (ASX: LEI) John Holland has won the Stage Two Contract for the design and construction of the new Albany Health Campus in Western Australia. The contract is valued at approximately $152 million.

India’s burgeoning economy exposed the inability of its local economy to adequately fuel its accelerating expansion and some Indian firms are devising ways to meet the needs of the country’s power-hungry industrial activities.

Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE: STZ), the world's largest wine company, has signed an agreement to sell its Australian and UK business, to Champ Private Equity of Sydney, Australia in a transaction valued at approximately A$290 million.

The Australian three-year bonds opened slightly weaker following release of strong US data overnight.

The Australian dollar has opened stronger this morning, keeping its head above USD1.0000 due to strong commodity price in very thin holiday trade.

U.S. stocks were slightly lower Thursday, trading in a tight range as a mixed bag of economic data left investors with little reason to make major position changes ahead of the holiday.

US new home sales rose by 5.5pct to a seasonally adjusted 290,000 unit annual pace.

Christmas has come early for Australian importers as the dollar continued to trade just below parity in local trade yesterday.

The Australian stock market ended the day on a high, as resource and financial stocks both rallied.

Local stocks closed at highs not seen since April today, underpinned by stronger commodity prices and takeover activity. In thin trade, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose 18.6pts or 0.4pct to finish at 4888.2.

High-end home prices in Australia declined by 7.5 percent in the six months to September says real estate researcher RP Data.

Australian companies appear to be concealing the more pertinent information when they file their annual business reports as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) observed on its review that corporate declarations are lacking in quality.

Specialist investment manager, AMP Capital Investors has bought a prime Sydney central business district space located at 50 Park Street specifically for its Select Property Portfolio No. 3 fund.

Australian-based OneSteel Ltd (ASX:OST) says it has met all regulatory conditions to buy the Moly-Cop and AltaSteel businesses from global mining group Anglo American.

Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) says it has completed a 100 per cent divestment of its equity holdings in US collier Cloud Peak Energy Inc. through a fully exercised over allotment in connection with a recently announced secondary offering.

Resource giant Rio Tinto Group (ASX: RIO) has agreed to buy Australian-listed coal miner Riversdale Mining Ltd (ASX: RIV) for A$16 a share, in a deal which values the target at around $3.9 billion.

Foster's Group Ltd (ASX:FGL) says its Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) and Carlsberg Group have extended a long-term exclusive licence to sell the Danish brewer's brands in Australia.

Local stocks are managing to hold on to six week highs, although trading volumes are light.

Giant telecommunication firm Telstra Corporation is writing down some $138 million in carrying value of its Octave business operation in China, which mainly deals on giving out technical services and providing phone content to mobile platforms.

Next week's release of $100 billion US Treasury bonds weighed on the Australian bond market as it opened weaker today.

The Australian dollar remains well supported despite further bad news out of Europe overnight.

U.S. stocks climbed to fresh two year highs Wednesday, led by financial companies as bank stocks continued to benefit from recent merger activity while the latest round of data pointed to a still recovering economy.

US existing home sales rose by 5.6pct in November to a 4.68 million annual pace - marking the highest reading since June.

The Australian Dollar continued to hold above the 99 cents mark yesterday in local trade despite there being no domestic data to drive direction.