POLITICS & POLICY

A direct Australian dollar and China yuan currency conversion could very much augur well for a stable trade between the two growing economic leader nations.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard was playing politics when she picked Brisbane to play host for the 2014 G20 summit, top officials of New South Wales said on Wednesday.

China, as it gears its economy to sustain the continued global fiscal crisis along with general plans to boost domestic consumption, could transform from a major rare earths producing and exporting nation to a major consumer and importer of the precious metals essential to make high-tecg gadgets and applications.

The Australian sharemarket is losing ground for the fifth straight day, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) down 0.2 pct or 9.9 pts to 4128. Despite the falls, the last week and a half has been extremely quiet on markets, so the losses cannot be taken too seriously.

On the second week of the implementation of the carbon tax, Treasurer Wayne Swan said the $23 per tonne carbon price is now a reality which Australians would have to judge its impact on their lives.

Worries from the tech and industrial sectors and an underwhelming earnings report from bellwether Alcoa sent stocks tumbling Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 83.17 points, or 0.7%, to 12653.12, while the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell 10.99 points, or 0.8%, to 1341.47.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has opened fairly unchanged this morning after trading to a high of USD1.0245 overnight during the European session.

It was yet another extremely quiet session on the Australian sharemarket today, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) down 0.5 pct or 21.9 pts to 4137.9. This did not come as a huge surprise due to the falls on most global markets overnight and the lack of interest in shares in Europe and the U.S.

Noting the financial crisis that continues to hit and stall the eurozone, the World Gold Council (WGC) said it expects gold demand from China to pare from the 1,000 metric tonnes it earlier predicted in May to just about 870 metric tonnes overall for 2012.

USEC Inc., a global energy company and provider of enriched uranium fuel and nuclear industry-related services for commercial nuclear power plants, announced it has completed by 90 per cent the conversion of weapons-grade uranium from dismantled former Soviet Union nuclear warheads into low enriched uranium fuel under the program called Megatons to Megawatts(TM).

Australia has signed two business deals with Sundaram Business Services (SBS), the business process outsourcing arm of Sundaram Finance Ltd., which will aid the latter's expansion plans in the Asian nation.

The institution that breeds Australia's future military officers has been wracked by sexual misbehaviours and other abuses that date back from 50 years ago, according to the newly-published report of law firm DLA Piper.

Gold producer from Australia Integra Mining has undergone into a trading halt on Tuesday as it seeks to raise $25 million to pay down debt as well as finance a number of expansion projects.

U.S. authorities will have to wait until next year before they can get a hold on Megaupload owner Kim Dotcom following decision by a New Zealand court to postpone his extradition hearing for March next year.

At least eight major producers of rare earths based in China's Guangdong Province have formed an alliance, the Guangdong Rare Earth Industry Group, in compliance to the federal government's pronouncement to start building a rare earths reserves.

Shipments of the key steel-making ingredient iron ore from Australia's Port Hedland to China dropped in June by as much as 7.6 percent from a month ago, port authority data showed.

Nervousness about Europe's debt crisis, an economic slowdown in China and the onset of domestic earnings season pushed U.S. stocks lower for a third-straight day Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 36.18 points, or 0.3%, to 12736.29. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gave up 2.22 points, or 0.2%, to 1352.46.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar continues to hover around the USD1.0200 level, despite weaker offshore equity markets and continued concerns about the European recovery.

It was a less than ideal start to the new trading week, with shares losing ground for the third consecutive session. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) fell 0.9 pct or 39.2 pts to 4159.8. Today was also around 20 pct quieter than last Monday. It is important to note that last week was one of the quietest so far in 2012.

The Queensland government appears to be choosing its battles based on the whims of influential mining billionaire Clive Palmer, Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has alleged.

Job advertisements placed in newspapers and on the Internet in Australia continued to drop for the third straight month in June, latest data released by the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) showed on Monday.

Friday night the overseas markets were hit by weak U.S. job numbers and concern over global growth. The all-important U.S. non-farm payroll numbers came in below market expectations as 80,000 new jobs created over the month of June was just not enough to settle markets. European and U.S. investors were also cautious ahead of the new global growth forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The head of the IMF Christine Lagarde said in a speech on Friday, in Japan, that she will revise ...

Resource-rich Australia has committed to extend $250 million for four years from 2015/16 for war-stricken yet also resource rich country Afghanistan.

Major telcos called on federal authorities to expedite the availability of new network spectrum that would further boost Australia's 4G services, reports said.

A nationwide survey of Australia's electricity power industry has shown that South Australians were unaware of applicable discounts offered by the electricity supply companies.

A report released on Monday by Ernst & Young on the issues facing miners worldwide warned of further escalation in costs of mining operations in the coming years.

Despite the threat of a $1.1 million fine from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), some Aussie entities continue to gouge residents by blaming the two-week-old carbon tax for large increase in prices.

Andrew Forrest of Fortescue Metals has found an ally in its High Court battle against the mining tax in the Australian state of Queensland. Despite a meeting on Monday between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, the state will go ahead and join Fortescue in the High Court challenge.

U.S. stocks fell sharply Friday to cap a holiday-shortened week marred by weak readings on the U.S. economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished Friday off 124.20 points, or 0.96%, at 12772.47, as investors responded to a third consecutive month of employment data that were worse than expectations.