BUSINESS

The Australian sharemarket has been unable to replicate yesterday's 1.3 per cent surge at lunch, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) down 0.3 per cent. Today is one of the busiest days for markets in the region with a barrage of earnings results out in Australia, Japan's quarterly growth update issued this morning and plenty of Chinese data scheduled for release this afternoon.

The choppy price action in equities continued with the pendulum swinging in the way of the bulls this time around. Perhaps the lack of fresh bad news on the geopolitical front calmed investor concerns. This gave investors a chance to focus on the raft of economic releases across the globe, with significant emphasis placed on disappointing US retail sales data. Given negative US data is now being perceived as positive for equities again, this reading helped ease fears of an early Fed funds rate h...

In US economic news, retail sales were flat in July, short of the expected 0.2% gain. Excluding autos, sales rose 0.1%, again short of forecasts for a 0.4% gain. The mortgage market index fell by 2.7% in the latest week, dragged down by a 4% fall in refinancing. Business inventories rose by 0.4% as expected in June.

British Telecom is preparing to place pressure on Vodafone to reduce its tariffs as competition in the 4G mobile broadband becomes tighter.

Wang Jianlin, the richest man in China, is committing to spend $1.7 billion to fund the construction on a 1.3-hectare beachfront resort on Australia's Gold Coast, the country's favourite summer destination.

The Australian sharemarket has been unable to replicate yesterday's 1.3 per cent surge at lunch, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) down 0.3 per cent. Today is one of the busiest days for markets in the region with a barrage of earnings results out in Australia, Japan's quarterly growth update issued this morningand plenty of Chinese data scheduled for release this afternoon.

Cheap airline ticket prices, it seems, is what's keeping the global aviation industry to reduce its carbon emissions, a new research published by the University of Southampton said in the journal Atmospheric Environment.

A 3,000-kilometre trans-Pacific cable network aims to link the U.S. and Japan. Named FASTER, the cable network would be cost $300 million and would be funded by Google and five Asian telecom and communications companies, reports NDTV.

The ASX 200 started the second session of the week on the front foot with the index happily building on the previous day's gains. The market was trading close to session highs at lunchtime with a gain of points 55 points after US stocks held their recently improved tone into the start of the week overnight.

Some 800 - 1,000 doses of an experimental vaccine will be donated by Canada to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to help curb the maddening spread of the Ebola virus in the African region.

Hispanic investors have a strong appetite for financial education and more sophisticated investment knowledge, according to a recent Wells Fargo survey. A significant 45 per cent of surveyed Hispanics claim they did not received any education on how to save and invest (versus 31 per cent of U.S. investors overall), and three out of four (76 per cent) wish they had learned more about managing money when they were growing up (compared to 61 per cent of U.S. investors overall).

Terror group ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham) are recruiting children as young as nine years old to join their organization and then condition their very young minds to kill all Christians as well as other infidels.

It certainly seems to be a headline geopolitical risk driven market at the moment, as any news out of Russia, Ukraine or Iraq dictate sentiment. This time around the news wasn't too constructive with investors concerned about Russia using humanitarian efforts as an excuse to send troops across to Ukraine. Additionally, it doesn't seem like much progress has been made on the Gaza front ahead of the expiration of the ceasefire.

In European economic news, Germany ZEW economic sentiment index fell from 27.1 to 8.6 - the lowest level in 18 months and well below expectations. The ZEW current conditions index fell from 61.80 to 55.5. No surprise that the weakness was driven by the escalation of tensions between Russia and the West. News reports suggest a growing number of the 6,200 German firms active in Russia are warning about a hit to their business. The survey was based on 222 analysts and investors, and conducted betwe...

The law firm Maurice Blackburn filed on Tuesday a new class action suit before the New South Wales Supreme Court against ANZ, Citibank and Westpac over credit card late fees.

South Korea has found that its imported scrap metals from Japan bore traces of radiation. It has announced it will return the items to Japan immediately.

The winning streak continued with shares hitting fresh six-year highs, rising for a third day and remaining above the key 5600pt level. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) improved by a modest 0.1 per cent despite mixed performances from global markets overnight. The US economy expanded at a faster than expected 4 per cent annual pace in the June quarter, while comments by the US central bank relating to inflation has increased the market's expectations of an earlier rate rise. The default of Arge...

Brisbane Times columnist Marcus Padley identified on Monday some 26 stocks in the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) 200's industrial sector and listed shares that investors consider vulnerable because of their high price-to-earning (PE) ratios.

News of a possible takeover of beleaguered Malaysia Airline System (MAS) has prompted its shares to jump as much as 10.4 per cent on Monday.

Melbourne real estate technology professionals have launched a mobile application that could prevent realtors from undervaluing a property and could eventually lead to the creation of similar apps.

Russian smartphone maker Yota Devices denied it is transferring HQ to Canada.

Mazda MX-5s limited edition 40 cars are now open for sale in Australia.

The ASX 200 started the second session of the week on the front foot with the index happily building on the previous day's gains. The market was trading close to session highs at lunchtime with a gain of points 55 points after US stocks held their recently improved tone into the start of the week overnight.

Pope Francis will be embarking on his first ever trip to Asia this week, at the Republic of Korea from Aug 14-18. Included in his 5-day visit to the country are four masses, including one for the beatification of 124 Korean Catholic martyrs and another for a gathering of Catholic youths in Asia, as well as a visit to the 'Cemetery for Aborted Children.'

Russia has taken a further step back from the Ukrainian crisis, after having pulled back strike fighters from the border (however, Russian troops still remain).

The specter of higher rates putting pressure on corporate earnings spurred investors to redeem a record setting $11.38 billion from High Yield Bond Funds and pull over $19 billion - a 26-week high - from U.S. Equity Funds, according to the latest data from EPFR.

The smartphone market is being shaken up as the tech giants' dominant positions are challenged by Chinese phonemakers that offer lower-cost handsets. With cheaper units that offer similar features to the pricier iPhone of Apple and Galaxy Android units of Samsung, companies like Lenovo and Xiaomi are grabbing a bigger share of the smartphone market.

Entertainment website BuzzFeed got $50 million more for its future plan to become one of the major media companies.

In broad terms the ASX 200 was able to maintain the levels that had been established in the early part of the day, although sellers had gained an edge in mid-afternoon trade when the index retreated from 5470 back towards 5455. Buyers returned in the final half hour of trade seeing the market close at 5457.