BUSINESS

The Australian share market broke a four day winning streak today, despite an afternoon buying frenzy which briefly the main indices in the black. A weak lead from Wall Street saw local investors pull back, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) closing down 5.9pts or 0.1pct to 4536.2.

Australia's share market has snapped a four day winning streak, after finishing a little weaker despite gains to miners and banks.

Freight company TNT announced in a statement today it had launched a new $6 million depot in East Arm, signalling its expanding international business and ongoing commitment to the Darwin region.

Gas and electricity firm Arrow Energy Ltd (ASX: AOE) said on Thursday that its annual gross sales in financial year 2010 indicated strong performance in the June quarter as gas and electricity sales more than doubled from the prior year.

The Australian share market was weaker by early afternoon after a negative lead from Wall Street, while the resources sector rallied.

Many Australians are bracing for a property slowdown over the next 12 months following the accelerated price expansion seen last year as the latest survey by the National Australia Bank (NAB) showed that the annual property price growth plunged from the 5.2 percent posted in March to a mere 1.4 percent in the June quarter.

Australian airline company Qantas (ASX:QAN) today launched a trial of its all-new Next Generation Check-in system at its domestic terminal at Perth Airport.

To help it sell five-year bonds, SPI (Australia) Assets Ltd., a unit of Singapore Power Ltd has acquired the services of Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corp.

The Australian share market is currently off by 0.4pct or 20.4pts to 4521.7 with almost all sectors currently in the red at lunch.

The spot uranium price has suddenly jumped but experts are warning investors not to read too much into it.

Oil major Royal Dutch Shell is likely to join Chevron's Wheatstone liquefied natural gas project in competition with Woodside Petroleum's Pluto project.

Whitehaven continues to make progress at its Narrabri longwall operation

Australia's major project development and contracting group Leighton Holdings (ASX: LEI) has secured a five-year $100m contract with Queensland's electricity provider, Ergon Energy.

A transport group said on Thursday that enabling trucking companies to implement the dual-run system would lead to better profits, slashed costs and less travel time for the freight industry as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) instructed DP World Australia and Patrick to set up a blue print on the trucking scheme.

Regional Express Holdings Ltd (REX) (ASX: REX) announced on Thursday that it is set to reduce its seat capacity by 18 percent for the Port Lincoln-Adelaide service route in South Australia, blaming stiffer competition from QantasLink which earlier resumed its flight services on the region.

Australia's lottery market is worth $3.6bn a year but only 4% of punters play online. Manaccom is well established to take advantage of inevitable growth.

Australian telecommunications and media company Telstra (ASX: TLS, NZX: TLS) is continuing with its plans to lay-off the 900 operational employees announced several weeks ago, according to a statement released today by the Communications Electrical Plumbing Union.

Property specialist Centro Properties Group (CNP) (ASX: CNP) said on Thursday that its financial arrangements covering a total of $US2.7 billion or $A3.03 billion of debt in the company’s US operations have been completed amidst the business’ continued restructuring.

Graeme Hunt, chief executive of Lihir Gold, says it is still possible to better the cash bid worth $9.7 billion by Newcrest Mining.

Graeme Hunt, chief executive of Lihir Gold, says it is still possible to better the cash bid worth $9.7 billion by Newcrest Mining.

Queensland's resource and construction industry employers today convened to discuss the latest issues confronting them under the Fair Work Act

Overnight, US stocks retreated on the back of a disappointing earnings report from Dow component Boeing and the latest Beige Book report which suggested several districts were experiencing softening growth.

The NBN Co. has finished the three initial stages of a primary software installation. The new software systems will upgrade its inventory tracking on fiscal management while the NBN is being built.

US durable goods orders fell by 1.0pct in June after a 0.8pct fall in May and 2.9pct rise in April. Economists had tipped a 1.0pct rise in orders.

The US stock market edged lower Wednesday on news that orders for big ticket items sank in June. The Dow fell 39.81 points (0.38%) to 10,497.88 in final trades, after a four day winning streak.

The Australian dollar has opened lower this morning following a bout of risk aversion trading overnight.

Australia's major TV subscription provider Austar United Communications Ltd (ASX:AUN) has reported a 42 per cent drop in first-half profits.

The Aussie's three-week ascent towards US90.50 came to an abrupt halt yesterday immediately after the release of the much-anticipated June quarter inflation data.

The pressure is off interest rates and the Reserve Bank can take a bow for getting its inflation forecast right.Its fo...