BUSINESS

Luxury homes will be auctioned tonight at the Sydney Opera House as 11 prime pieces of property including five in Sydney and one in Brisbane will be up for grabs and estimated to cost A$30 million.

High-level talks between the United States and Australia will take place today as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton initiated discussions on China's monopoly of rare earths, which are used as key components in military systems.

ING Direct Australia, one of the country's largest retail bank, says it will offer $1000 cash to any customer who switches their mortgage to ING Direct and opens an Orange Everyday transaction account before June next year.

The Australian sharemarket mirrored the U.S markets today after finishing relatively unchanged for the first day of the week. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) closed down by 0.4pct or 17.6pts to 4855.3.

The Australian share market has lost ground as investors cashed in on recent gains in the resources, financial and property sectors.

Equinox Minerals Ltd., the Australian copper producer has turned in some $71.2 million profits in the third quarter as production at its Lumwana mine in Zambia increased.

The latest KPMG Fraud and Misconduct Survey has revealed Australian and NZ finance companies are more vulnerable to lending fraud and bogus insurance claims for the last two years.

Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan is set to argue his case as the tax fraud case filed against the Australian commenced its hearing on Monday in the Federal Court of Sydney.

McDonald's Australia today said it has partnered with Visa to bring consumers an even faster way to pay for their meals.

Australian coal hauler and transporter QR National Ltd. has received keen interest from foreign investment managers for its $5 billion dollar initial public offering (IPO) before its formal offering on November 22

Following the assurance of independence provided by Actividades de Construccion y Servicios (ACS) of Spain, Australia’s Leighton Holdings Ltd declared on Monday that no further attempts of blocking ACS’s takeover bid of Germany’s Hochtief would emanate from the giant construction firm.

Australian stocks are flat in early trade, but significantly managing to hold on to six month highs reached during Friday's trade.

Orica (ASX: ORI), the world's top maker of explosives for mines today announced a net profit after tax and individually material items of $1,319 million for the full year ended 30 September 2010, up $777 million on the previous year.

Paint, adhesives and garden care products supplier DuluxGroup Ltd (ASX:DLX) today posted $61.289 million net profit for the its first year as a standalone entity in fiscal 2010 and said it expects profit to grow further.

The AUD remains very firm this morning after touching another post float high of 1.0175 on Friday night, as the US non-farm payrolls in October rose 151k, as compared to predictions of 60k.

U.S. stocks rose slightly Friday, extending their climb to fresh two year highs as investors were encouraged by a report of stronger than expected job growth for October.

The Australian Dollar reached highs near 1.0180 on Friday however almost a cent was wiped from the currency pair as the recent risk rally lost steam during Friday's European session.

US payrolls rose by 151,000 in October, well ahead of expectations for jobs growth of 60,000.

Travelers flying on Qantas Air will experience delays as the company shuffles its fleet to cover the grounded A380s, Qantas spokesman Simon Rushton said.

After receiving a very positive lead from Wall Street overnight, our market maintained its early rally to close 1.1pct or 55.4pts stronger to 4872.9.

The six-month extension again required for the completion of the problem-plagued $4.4 billion Oakajee port and rail project in Western Australia adds up to the mounting woes of the proposed deepwater port, following numerous delays in the past.

The Australian share market climbed over one per cent to a seven month high as investors snapped up resources stocks amid higher metals prices and a greater appetite for riskier assets.

Qantas moved swiftly to ground its entire fleet of A380 aircrafts following the scary episode in Singapore where a plane suffered a blown engine after its take off, endangering the lives of passengers and crews of flight en route to Australia.

Passengers from Qantas Airbus A380, the same carrier where Oprah Winfrey next month was to have flown hundreds of US audience members in a John Travolta-piloted down under trip, have left for Australia on relief flights.

South Australia is all set for a bumper season as the state government announced that farmers in the region would harvest a total of 9.62 million tonnes, the biggest crop yield ever for the state since the 9.4 million tonnes recorded in 2001.

The Australian sharemarket is rallying strongly today, completely wiping out yesterday's slight falls.

Foreign banking institutions in Australia are eager to take advantage of a more competitive environment in the country's financial sector that the Federal government is considering to implement.

Huge numbers of disappointed Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA) customers have taken to the Internet to vent their outrage over the 'unfair' variable interest rate hike of 0.45 per cent this week.

Queensland mining mogul Clive Palmer could go ahead with his takeover plans for Gladstone Pacific Nickel Ltd, according to the federal government, who declared on Friday that it would not get in the way of the brewing acquisition.