Erik Pineda

The minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) May 5 board meeting released today, showed that board members are happy with the current level of cash rate at 4.5 percent and giving away signs that further hikes will be far from happening in the next few months.

The $361.5 million takeover bid by a Japanese company for CBH Resources Ltd is fair and square, that according to Grant Thornton Corporate Finance Pty Ltd, which further described the offer as more beneficial and superior in favour of CBH on its published findings on Monday.

Department stores operator Myer Holdings has expressed confidence on Monday that it is en route to a previously established full year earnings guidance of $3.33 billion amidst anticipated sales slow downs as the company enters a much challenging fourth quarter.

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan contended that his wife shares dealings should not be enmeshed on the heating debate about the impending super profits tax on the resource industry amidst allegations that Kim Swan divested mining stock shares as soon as her husband got hold of the Henry tax review.

Construction and energy biggie Leighton Holdings Ltd has reported on Monday that company net profit jumped by 82 percent as it listed an after tax earnings of $400.3 million in the past nine months ending in March 31 this year and subsequently reaffirmed its full year earnings guidance.

Beverage giant Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd (CCA) has informed company shareholders that it is currently trading on solid grounds as it reaffirmed its previous sales guidance while projecting at the same time that the company is most likely headed to single-digit growth for the first half of 2010.

Northern Iron has reported Friday that its troubled Sydvaranger iron ore project in Norway will be re-commissioned ahead of schedule as solutions that would solve the site’s problems are well underway.

The Australian dollar is gaining more strength against the Euro as Aussie travellers are poised to enjoy a much promising European holiday season as the local currency may be better positioned to buy beyond 75 euro cents very soon.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has launched an investigation on eight Wall Street banks following allegations that they provided misleading information to numerous ratings agencies in order to secure favourable rating on mortgage securities.

Queensland Prime Minister Anna Bligh has announced the launch of a new $1 billion residential community in Gold Coast set to be developed by Mirvac, with about 2300 home units to be spread in a sprawling 500 hectares at Pimpama within the next 10 years.

The federal government has scored the opposition’s spending allocations, stressing that they would eventually eradicate the projected federal budget surpluses of about $1 billion on 2012/13 and up to $5.4 billion in 2013/14.

The Finance Sector Union is concerned that the planned class action against bank fees would lead to job losses once it has proven its case successfully, that could compel affected banks to recoup their losses by resorting to large-scale employee separations.

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that April’s employment numbers are steadying with about 33,700 jobs created last month but the unemployment rate remained crawling up at 5.4 percent as the workforce continues to balloon.

The Spanish government said today that budget cut measures will take effect soon in order to cushion the anticipated spill over of Greece’s debt issues across the eurozone as Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero revealed that public sector wages will be slashed by five percent and frozen by next year.

Jetset Travelworld Ltd has announced plans to merge with Stella Travel Services Holdings as respective boards of the two travel companies have agreed on a conditional merger deal with Qantas Airways, Jetset’s majority shareholder, giving its thumbs up for the planned merger.

Curtain manufacturer and retailer Kresta Holdings Ltd has reported Wednesday of an expectedly higher full year 2010 result following a five percent surge of up to $29.5 million on its third quarter sales for this fiscal year alone.

New data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed that the overall volume of owner-occupied housing slid to its lowest level since April 2001 as housing finance commitments declined by 3.4 percent in March to 48,260 following the government’s withdrawal of its stimulus suite grants for first home buyers.

The Australian gold stocks had inspired a beehive trading on Wednesday following the precious metal’s spot price record spikes in US trading overnight, with the spot gold price reaching as high as $US1,234.55 per fine ounce in the US session.

Energy utility company SP AusNet has reported that its full year net profit after tax (NPAT) jumped by 42.3 percent or $209 million in the March quarter as it cited that boosted activity from its new commercial arm, price increases and additional clients fuelled the recorded gain.

Paper maker Amcor Ltd is set to merge with Amcor Packaging Distribution and eventually combine all its Australasian operations into Amcor Australasia and Packaging Distribution, which will be based in Melbourne and set to be headed by US-based Nigel Garrard.

Samsung Group announced Tuesday that it is set to invest a total of $US20 billion in healthcare and green energy sectors by 2020, which would create thousands of new jobs as company chairman Lee Kun-Hee hinted that governments around the world are channelling billions to sustainable energy over concerns on the planets dwindling resources.

Transport company Asciano Group has revealed Tuesday that it is set to book impairment charges of up to $1.1 billion by the second half of fiscal year 2010 following recommendations from its internal audit and risk committee, even as the company has reaffirmed its earning guidance of close to $700 million for the full year 2009/10.

Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund has announced Tuesday of plans for capital restructuring which involves a capital raising of up to $110 million and selling its Mt Millar Wind Farm for $191 million, as it added that TSI Fund is also set to extend its corporate debt maturity to May 2015.

ANZ (Australia and New Zealand Banking Group), one of the country’s major banks, has informed that Senate Economics Reference Committee on small business financing that the number of companies who are behind on loan repayments had jumped amidst the difficult economic situation.

The Melbourne government is set to collect about $125,000 in compensation from the city’s train operator Metro, as it again failed to meet its punctuality target for the month of April, with only 84.5 percent of trains running on time, which is just 3.5 percent shy of meeting its 88 percent goal, that would have allowed the company to write off the fine.

Avexa Ltd shares tumbled by almost 78 percent or up to 2.7 cents on Monday as the drug company announced that it is ending Apricitabine (ATC), its lead HIV program, amidst the resignation of its chief executive Julian Chick who is set to leave by end of May.

The National Australia Bank (NAB) has reported Monday that business confidence was hit hard by the recent rate hikes and declined by three index points to 13 points in April, thereby adding more pressures on the country’s retail, construction and transport industries.

A report released by James Cook University has revealed that aggressive marketing has been lately trained on Indigenous Australians as telemarketers and roving salespersons focus on the outlying communities, apparently banking on their lack of financial and legal knowledge to clinch sales pitch.

The State Information Centre, a powerful government think-tank, has called on the Chinese government to consider a more flexible exchange rate in order to eliminate worldwide pressure for a stable currency and discourage the entry of speculative funds on China’s economy, which could encounter a slow down by the year’s second quarter.