BUSINESS

The AUD has opened this morning relatively unchanged as the overnight session provided little direction with the US markets closed for Labour Day.

Damages caused by Saturday morning's magnitude 7.0 quake in New Zealand have been estimated to reach $NZ2 billion, but Australian insurance companies claim to have reinsurances.

The Australian share market opens flat, primarily, because the European markets had a firm closing and US markets being closed overnight for Labor day.

Resource giant Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) announced on Monday it is midway through a share buyback program designed to simplify its dual-listed structure.

Willmott Forests has been placed in receivership by its bankers, emulating the downward spiral of collapsed managed investment scheme (MIS) operators Timbercorp and Great Southern.

The Australian bourse ended Monday's trading day strongly, with gains accelerating in the afternoon as banks and miners rose, overshadowing heavy losses by Macquarie Group after the investment bank announced a profit downgrade.

The police and the consumer protection commission in Western Australia issued a joint warning against the growing number of Ponzi schemes.

The banking industry in Australia has seen a growth in term deposits.

Miners are threatening to restart anti-tax campaign, potentially bringing back the controversy over the government's resource levy.

The Gateway to the Great Barrier Reef launched a tourism campaign in order to attract more than 4,000 extra visitors to the Mon Repos turtle rookery.

The biotechnology company is floating $8.5 million today after submitting a prospectus with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. The investment proposal covers the clinical development of a new prostate cancer therapy and a second therapy to improve the longevity of hip replacements.

Closing down the whaling industry is possible when the tourism industry will compensate for the losses.

The Australian share market was higher at Monday noon, buoyed by most financial and mining stocks.

Australia's largest supermarket chain Woolworths Ltd (ASX:WOW) plans to offload $900 million of its retail sites from its property portfolio.

The Australia and New Zealand Bank (ASX: ANZ) latest survey shows a rise in job vacancies posted in major metropolitan newspapers and on the worldwide web.

The University of Melbourne released a survey showing a monthly inflation gauge of 0.2 percent for August.

The Australian share market has kicked off the trading week on a buoyant note, following a strong lead from Wall Street on Friday night.

Aevum Limited (ASX: AVE) chairman Graham Lenzer intensifies a campaign call to reject the Stockland Corporation Limited (ASX: SGP) offer of $1.50 a share.

The Australian debt market opened with traders selling off bonds.

Google has confirmed reports that the Texas Attorney General is investigating the company in connection with an anti-trust lawsuit by two firms claiming it manipulated search results to harm the complainants.

Suncorp-Metway Limited (ASX: SUN) and Insurance Australia Group Limited (ASX: IAG), two of New Zealand's largest insurance companies, are prepared for the expected property damage claims caused by Saturday's earthquake.

The Australian shares market is expected to take the lead from the favorable closing at the Wall Street on Friday.

The AUD has opened firmly in the mid 0.9100's this morning after benefitting from the US payroll data released on Friday that saw a fall of 54k in jobs as compared to the expected decline of 105k jobs.

US non-farm payrolls (employment) fell by 54,000 in August, far better than expectations for a 110,000 decline in jobs. Estimates of job losses in June and July were also revised down.

U.S. stocks climbed Friday, with J.P. Morgan Chase, Caterpillar and International Business Machines leading the charge as a better than expected jobs report for August helped the market snap a three week losing streak.

The resurgence in the Aussie dollar continued on Friday night with the unwinding of risk trades persisting following the release of the U.S employment report.

The Australian stockmarket on Friday ended the week with a third successive strong performance as investors regained some confidence in the outlook for the global economy.

The Federal Department of Environment, Water, Environment, and the Arts has given the nod for the construction of the biggest coal gasification and storage plant in the world.

Junior mining firm Terramin Australia Ltd (ASX: TZN) said on Friday that its quest for acquisition targets is still underway as the company underscored its expansion plans by purchasing base metal projects that would deliver other opportunities aside from the companies core products of zinc.