BUSINESS

Australian telco Telstra will be laying off almost 1, 000 of its employees, as it pursues a simpler business model.

Lachlan Murdoch is reported to be seeking half of James Packer's new stake in Network Ten (ASX: TEN.AU).

The New Zealand dollar bounced from lows on Thursday, benefiting from a broadly softer greenback and after a widely expected decision by the Reserve Bank of NZ to hold rates unchanged and keep a tightening bias.

Telecommunications firm Telstra has announced that it will cut down 950 jobs across the country.

Australian investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd. is now under pressure to slash down its workforce to cope with the lower trading and merger fees.

Setting the stage for a new shopping standard in Sydney, Westfield Group unveiled on Thursday its $1.2 billion freshly-renovated commercial complex in the city’s central business district, with the property developer announcing that the bar has been raised for the next level of shopping experience.

The Australian sharemarket is currently gaining for only the second time this week with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) up 42.3pts or 0.9pct to 4762.8. All sectors are in the black with the financial sector leading the way.

A new policy recommendation report released by the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) for the Asian Policy Forum urges Asian policymakers to take a collective approach to secure balanced and sustainable growth.

Sydney's main shopping street Pitt Street Mall opens today after two years of construction.

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. has reported that profits soared to 69 percent as a number of its nonperforming loans dropped significantly.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard met with BHP chief executive Mr. Marius Kloppers on Wednesday in an effort to save the agreement signed with the mining industry now on the brink of collapse.

Basing on trend recorded for the past five years, all manufactured food and grocery items being sold in Australia may soon be sourced from abroad and push local processors and manufacturers out of business if such developments were not reversed.

Following National Australia Bank's (ASX: NAB) $4.22 billion profit announcement yesterday, the Finance Sector Union on Thursday called on banks to share their profits with those that provided it - the Australian community.

The AUD has opened weaker this morning continuing on from yesterdays sell off following the release of the CPI data.

A smaller than anticipated rise in the consumer price index took the Aussie from an intraday high of 0.9860 down to 0.9720 in very quick fashion as traders lowered their expectations for an interest rate rise when the Reserve Bank meets next week.

U.S. stocks pared their losses in late trading Wednesday as investors recalibrated their expectations for a major bout of easing by the Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy.

Amid a Coalition campaign for stricter banking regulations supported by the Australian Competition and Consumer Competition, banks today reiterated that while the world financial crunch lessened options for consumers, competition remained.

ANZ Banking Group plans to spend $250 million to increase its stake in Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank (SRCB).

National stratified median house prices remained effectively unchanged at +0.1 per cent for the September quarter - the third consecutive quarter of declining growth - following falls in house prices in most capital cities, according to Australian Property Monitors.

Local stocks and the Aussie Dollar fell and shorter dated bonds rallied today.

Oil and gas producer Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG) announced on Wednesday it achieved record September quarter production and sales revenues after strong performances at key projects.

The Australian stock market slumped on Wednesday as the heat fell out of resources and the major banks retreated from early gains.

Uranium producer Paladin Energy Ltd has issued an estimated $A304-million worth of convertible bonds to re-pay maturing debt obligations and expand its mining areas in the country and in Africa.

Economists are convinced that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will move for a rise on its policy rates come November 2, notwithstanding the better inflation readings furnished by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in the September quarter.

The Australian share market is trading flat today, as gains from the banks are offset by losses from mining stocks. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 2.8pts at lunchtime in the East to 4764.3.

Australia’s headline consumer price index (CPI) barely missed the market forecast of 0.8 percent in the September quarter as new data furnished by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that the country’s CPI went up by 0.7 percent in the quarter, en route to an annual rate of 2.8 percent.

Australia's headline consumer price index (CPI), the data that the central bank uses to gauge the underlying trend in inflation, lifted 0.7 per cent in the September quarter, for an annual rate of 2.8 per cent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said today.

The Property Council of Australia (PCA) says it is time for NSW to wind back a raft of new and higher taxes on the property sector and head down the path of broader reform.

Australian company Telstra launched Telstra T-Touch Tab today, dubbing as the "the most affordable wireless tablet from an Australian telco."