BUSINESS

Trading volumes are very light on the local market after the US and European markets closed mixed overnight.

China’s decision to reduce its export quota of rare earths boosted Lynas Corp’s prospect in the international market for the priced minerals and pushed up the emerging producer’s shares value in Australian market by at least 13 percent.

Property firm Goodman Group Ltd (ASX:GMG) and partners, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the All Pensions Group and the China Investment Corporation have made their formal bid for the ING Industrial Fund (ASX: IIF).

Forecast rising interest rates will affect the housing industry says a Global Real Estate Trends report.

Indian firm Tata Steel is ready to work with any firm poised to acquire coal miner Riversdale Mining Ltd, where the giant South Asian steel company holds a 24 percent interest.

Tower Australia Group Ltd (ASX:TAL) says Japan's Dai-ichi Life Insurance had offered to acquire all of the issued shares in Tower that it does not already own for $4 cash per share. Dai-ichi currently owns 29 percent of the Australian company.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is one among a leading group offering to buy out industrial real estate firm, ING Industrial Fund .

As the water level rises in the River Murray, median property prices are also increasing in the Alexandrina Council area climbing by as much as 12.5 percent to $370,000 in December.

Construction giant Leighton Holdings Ltd found a viable ally for its Indian business interests on Welspun Corp Ltd, which recently acquired a 35 percent stake on the Australian contractor’s operations in the subcontinent for roughly $103 million.

U.S. stocks are mixed, with the blue chips slowly but surely climbing through the trading session, getting some help from a Treasury market that is diving.

On Christmas Day the People´s Bank of China lifted benchmark interest rates by 25 basis points.

The festive season has proved to be no deterrent for the Australian Dollar with the commodity currency rallying to highs near 1.0150 as of yesterday’s North American session.

First home buyer loans in the Australian Capital Territory plunged by as much as 50 percent during the three months to October 2010 says a housing report.

Median house prices in Perth increased by $5,000 to $485,000 during the September quarter reports the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia.

Industry executives predict that any hike in property prices will be more restrained as two property increases for 2011 are expected.

Total commercial property sales in the country for the year amounted to $7.8 billion with more than $5 million accounting for the office, retail and industrial sectors says a survey.

Germany’s Mercedes Benz continue to enthral Australian luxury car aficionados as the carmaker rolled out its 1000th unit this year and just a day after Christmas from the global company’s AMG Performance Studio.

Goodman Group and three global investors have made a cash offer to acquire 100 per cent of the ordinary units in ING Industrial Fund after four weeks of negotiation.

Seemingly unmindful of its mobile services woes, Vodafone pours million on advertisements that the telco hopes would lure new customers in light of the criticisms it now gets from disgruntled clients for apparent promises it could not deliver.

Leighton subsidiary (ASX: LEI) John Holland has won the Stage Two Contract for the design and construction of the new Albany Health Campus in Western Australia. The contract is valued at approximately $152 million.

India’s burgeoning economy exposed the inability of its local economy to adequately fuel its accelerating expansion and some Indian firms are devising ways to meet the needs of the country’s power-hungry industrial activities.

Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE: STZ), the world's largest wine company, has signed an agreement to sell its Australian and UK business, to Champ Private Equity of Sydney, Australia in a transaction valued at approximately A$290 million.

The Australian three-year bonds opened slightly weaker following release of strong US data overnight.

The Australian dollar has opened stronger this morning, keeping its head above USD1.0000 due to strong commodity price in very thin holiday trade.

U.S. stocks were slightly lower Thursday, trading in a tight range as a mixed bag of economic data left investors with little reason to make major position changes ahead of the holiday.

US new home sales rose by 5.5pct to a seasonally adjusted 290,000 unit annual pace.

Christmas has come early for Australian importers as the dollar continued to trade just below parity in local trade yesterday.

The Australian stock market ended the day on a high, as resource and financial stocks both rallied.

Local stocks closed at highs not seen since April today, underpinned by stronger commodity prices and takeover activity. In thin trade, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose 18.6pts or 0.4pct to finish at 4888.2.