MARKETS

Junior mining firm CGA Mining Ltd (ASX: CGX) reported on Wednesday that its Masbate gold venture in central of Philippines has been ramping up the project’s throughput, chalking up consistent gains that surpassed so far earlier projections.

U.S. stocks were mostly slightly lower Tuesday as investors worried about the economy despite better than expected signs from the retail sector that boosted Best Buy, J.C. Penney and Kroger. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 17.64 points, or 0.17%, to 10526.49, its first drop in five sessions.

The Australian Dollar has out-performed the other major currencies over the past week, and this continued last night, with the AUD setting a new 2 year high of 0.9450 following rumours that the US Federal Reserve will announce quantitative easing measures as early as November.

US retail sales rose by 0.4pct in August, above expectations for a 0.3pct gain. Excluding autos, sales were up 0.6pct with food stores and gasoline stations doing best. And US business inventories rose by 1.0pct in July, the largest increase in two years. Stocks are at 14-month highs.

Speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve will purchase up US$1 trillion in government bonds to aid the economic recovery has weakened the greenback across the board pushing the Australian Dollar to a two-year high near 0.9450 during brisk overnight trade.

Investor concerns on the U.S. economic recovery has brought the Australian share market to open lower today.

The Australian currency had kept most of the gains made in the past 24 hours, but failed to remake a five-month high reached on Monday.

The Australian sharemarket ended the day in positive territory despite gains being shaved in afternoon trade.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) said on Tuesday that it has formally commenced its strategic partnership with Vietnam International Bank (VIB) following the handing down of regulatory approvals from the Vietnamese government.

Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd (ASX: VBA) chief executive John Borghetti reiterated his belief on Tuesday that Australian-based carriers must forged useful alliances that would enable them to provide affordable international networks to passengers and all the possible attending perks.

Mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) unveiled on Tuesday its $US803 million plan to upgrade the current open pit operations of the company’s Argyle diamond mine site in Western Australia into an underground exploration.

The Australian stockmarket maintained a four-month high on Tuesday noon following positive offshore leads and better-than-expected results from a domestic business confidence survey.

The Australian currency was stronger at Tuesday noon, although investors avoided any big moves as they awaited the resolution of Japan's leadership struggle.

Giant mining firm Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) took advantage of a credit facility extended to Ivanhoe Mines Ltd that matured on Tuesday and sued for its conversion into common shares that effectively upped the company’s stake in the Canadian firm by almost 35 percent.

China’s upbeat economic news perked up investors demand for oil futures, nudging higher oil prices in Asia and North America as the world’s fast emerging giant economy gave hints of further growths and more fuel consumption that effectively dampened the supply jitters brought by the closure of a key Canadian pipeline that supplies crude to US refineries.

Overnight saw the AUD hold to the USD0.9300 level, as the offshore markets continued tohold onto the strength seen in the local markets yesterday.

The US dollar lost some grounds against a host of other currencies led by the recovering Euro, driving up on Monday’s closing gold prices in what analysts call as the usual movement of the precious metal whenever the mighty dollar falters and the market signals the dreaded uncertainty that yet again gave gold considerable gains.

The European Commission has almost doubled its forecasts for growth of the euro zone economy. The European Commission now expects the euro zone to grow by 1.7 per cent in 2010, up from its previous forecast in May of 0.9 per cent.

Financials led U.S. stocks higher Monday as investors welcomed new global banking requirements that will be ushered in gradually enough to ensure banks won't need to scramble to raise capital.

The Australian Dollar has more momentum than the Canberra Raiders holding onto its recent gains above US93 cents during local trade on Monday. It opens at 0.9350 today.

Optimism rules on Tuesday at the stock exchange mainly due to new capital rules set by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in Switzerland.

The Australian currency finished at a five-month high on Monday following reassuring Chinese economic data and a strong performance in the local share market.

The Australian bourse finished strongly in the black, past the 4600-point mark on the back of positive offshore leads.

Virgin Airlines founder Sir Richard Branson hinted in an ABC interview on Monday that his airline could eventually abandon its New Zealand service routes following the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) disapproval last week of the planned Virgin Blue-Air New Zealand Alliance.

The Australian currency was higher at Monday noon, hitting a four-month high as traders took heart in strong Chinese economic data released over the weekend.

The Australian stockmarket was up more than 1 per cent by Monday noon, after strong economic data from China buoyed resources stocks.

Junior mining firm Arafura Resources Ltd (ASX: ARU) revealed on Monday a scientific breakthrough that could easily position the company as the world’s major source of rare earths, which are being utilised for industrial purposes such as the manufacture of some batteries, lasers and x-ray machines.

Oil prices climbed up as the week closed on Friday, picking up from the upgraded North American demand forecast of 50,000 barrels per day released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on the same day that a major pipeline pumping crude into the United States was shut down.

The AUD continues to move higher on the back of better than expected data out of China on Friday and broke 0.9300 early this morning.