BUSINESS

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) surprised the nation on Thursday by releasing unemployment statistics contrary to analysts' expectations. Instead of a 5.3 per cent joblessness rate, Australia's unemployment rate was steady at 5.2 per cent in March.

Nokia, the Finland-based phone manufacturer recently launched their newest Windows Phone in the market which is Nokia Lumia 900. Barely reaching a week after it was launched last Easter Sunday; users are now facing issues with their new Windows Phone.

Choice, a consumer watchdog, took the cudgels for plus-size women on Thursday by asking retailers to widen the range of clothes available to large females. The group said because of limited choices, these kinds of women have to buy online or at chain stores.

After two years of house price falls, property prices in Qatar have been stable during 2011, according to property consultant, Asteco.

The Rise Of The Machine: Does High Frequency Trading Alter Prices?By David Bicchetti and Nicolas MaystreTrade in commodity derivatives ? such as oil futures ? has grown tremendously over the last few decades.

Consumer sentiment fell to its lowest level in 8 months in March, in contrast to the small, but noticeable rise in business confidence in the NAB survey on Tuesday.

Lying in the shadows of China, bordering bustling Thailand, and next to emerging Cambodia, Vietnam occupies the sweetest spot in the region.

The pace of growth in China's passenger vehicles market has slowed after sales growth in March eased.

U.S. stocks bounced back Wednesday after a five-day slide, bolstered by a strong start to the corporate-earnings season and a drop in Spanish and Italian government borrowing rates.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 89 points or 0.7% while the S&P gained 0.7% to 1368 and the Nasdaq added 0.

BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) announced on Wednesday that it would close its Norwich Park coking coal mine in Queensland due to flooding, strikes, higher costs and falling prices that caused production cut to all the firm's mines.

The supposed news and rumors regarding Apple's new iPhone is taking the world by storm as more and more "leaked" specifications have been appearing in different news sources. The latest one came from the website, 9to5Mac which states that the new iPhone prototypes will be having 1GB of RAM and "A5X" chip which was utilized in the new iPad for the Retina Display features.

There was only one direction for the Australian share market today: down. More falls on Wall Street and weaker commodity prices saw the local share market lose ground for the fourth session in a row, its longest losing streak in four months. Disappointing economic data added to the gloom, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) closing down 46.1pts or 1.1pct to 4327.6.

The ANZ says internet and newspaper job ads at a three year high, but the National Australia Bank sees business confidence and conditions grinding "higher but with little jobs growth".

Charter Hall Retail REIT (ASX:CQR) (the 'REIT') has announced that it is in the tail-end of acquiring Wanneroo Central Shopping Centre in Perth, Western Australia for $70 million.

By Greg PeelBetween the big fiscal stimulus package of late 2006 and late 2011, Beijing incrementally tightened monetary policy in order to head off a bubble-bust scenario ? in the economy in general and in the local property market in particular.

The first Australian shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Woodside Petroleum's Pluto project in Western Australia this April is not just a milestone for the country's gas industry. It could also help pave the way for the country to become the world's biggest LNG exporter by 2018.

The Rio Tinto subsidiary, Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) has increased its hoped for level of production of uranium oxide for 2012 to between 3200 and 3700 tonnes.

China swung back to a $US5.35 billion trade surplus in March from February's deficit of $US31.48 billion

The weakness of Australia's manufacturing sector continues to be felt as 126 workers at an automotive facility in Victoria found they were stood down by the APV Automotive Components in Melbourne.

Stocks suffered their biggest declines this year, losing ground for the fifth straight session, as worries over rising borrowing costs for European countries weighed on investor sentiment ahead of the start of earnings season.

China's trade balance swung back into positive territory in March as the country's import growth slowed from a 13-month peak and exports grew faster than expected.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 213 points or 1.7% while the S&P lost 1.7% to 1358 and the Nasdaq dropped 1.8%.

The National Australia Bank (NAB) cut on Tuesday its growth forecast for Australia to 2.9 per cent from 3.2 per cent for 2012.

Sony Corp. announced that the company's plan of cutting down a total of 10,000 jobs which is equivalent to 6% of the global workforce. This strategy is said to be part of a new "restructuring plan" under the new president of the company.

The tech world's patent wars continue and Microsoft is bent on building up its armoury by securing hundreds of patent rights from former internet titan, AOL Inc.

Love Instagram? Well you will surely be counted with the 30 million plus global users that the mobile app has attracted so far and Facebook quickly took notice of the online social commotion and decided to join the fun.

The Australian share market resumed trade after the Easter break and tumbled into the red, following weaker than expected economic data out of the United States. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) lost 28.7pts or 0.7pct to 4373.6, but came off earlier lows, following data which showed China unexpectedly reported a trade surplus in March. This stoked optimism that the People's Bank of China won't need to cut rates in order to stimulate growth.

The dollar is down a bit and demands for commodities have generally eased down, according to major mining players, prompting many economists to suggest that Australia's surge of investments had reached the inevitable limits.