BUSINESS

The Australian bourse finished flat on Tuesday, with gains in financials opposed by falls in the big miners.

Junior coal miner MetroCoal Ltd (ASX: MTE) issued clarifications on Tuesday that the company has yet to finalise its actual resource estimate on its Columboola project in central Queensland following statements from its Chinese partner that showed estimates based merely on historic and publicly accessed data.

Oil and gas explorer Drillsearch Energy Ltd (ASX: DLS) announced on Tuesday that it has raised its stakes on four wet gas finds in Cooper Basin at South Australia, revealing at the same time that company shares would enter trading halt on the same day.

As anticipated by many economists, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has opted to maintain the country’s interest rates on its current level, the fourth consecutive months that the cash rates have been stationary, with a rise last seen in May this year.

A new survey to measure borrower and would-be borrower sentiment for housing loans shows a decrease in the confidence level among home buyers.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced a widely expected decision on Tuesday as it kept rates on hold and gave borrowers yet another month to breathe easy over mortgage repayment costs.

Aquaculture specialist Clean Seas Tuna Ltd (ASX: CSS) admitted on Tuesday that up to 80 tonnes of kingfish were wiped out as a huge fish kill occurred on its Eyre Peninsula facility in South Australia, which the company attributed to human error.

The banking industry should comply with the standards of the global banking regulator.

Gold mining company St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) issued a proposal on Tuesday outlining its intent of consolidating its share base in order to lure more international institutional investors.

The Australian stockmarket was flat at Tuesday noon, as investors took extra caution while waiting for the Reserve Bank of Australia's move on rates and a possible announcement on which political party will rule.

The Transport Workers Union in New South Wales (NSW) is shifting police attention from truck drivers to trucking companies over illegal drug use.

The confidence of Australia's executives is showing clear signs of improvement, according to the latest Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Business Expectations Survey released on Tuesday.

Forestry Tasmania said on Tuesday that declining global demand for wood products has pulled down its profit for 2010 as it revealed that it incurred an operating loss of up to $8 million the recently concluded financial year, following the $9 million gains it posted in the prior period.

The Australian debt market showed optimism by opening strong before the release of the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) interest rate decision.

Australia's economy is set to boom within the next 10 years, according to a leading economist.

The local market will likely trade in a tight range today as investors wait for the rate decision from RBA this afternoon as well as announcement from the remaining three independents to decide which party might lead the next Australian Government.

Construction activities in August remained weak sending the number of new houses to plunge after 16 months.

Gold mining firm Andean Resources Ltd (ASX: AND) flatly denied on Tuesday that it intentionally violated the listing and merging rules when it did not inform the stock exchange about the takeover bid it received from Eldorado Gold Corporation.

Jetset Travelworld Limited (ASX: JET) shareholders voted in favor of the proposed merger with Stella Travel Services.

Agribusiness firm AWB Ltd (ASX: AWB) said on Tuesday that the combined impact of weather disturbances in Europe and the severe drought seen in Russia rechanneled attention to Australian wheat as buyers scramble to fill the global void left by the natural disasters.

Oil prices went their separate ways on Monday as the October delivery for Brent North Sea crude soared by US 38 cents in London while New York’s light sweet crude deliveries for the same month barrelled down by US 14 cents to $US74.46 per barrel.

The Asciano Group (ASX: AIO) will begin meetings today with bond investors in Asia and the United States. The first stop of the foreign trip is Singapore.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited (ASX: BEN) and Bank of Queensland Limited (ASX: BOQ) have benefited from the positive sentiment towards the Australian financial sector in yesterday's trading. However, one shareholder holds strong sentiments against both banks standing on separate grounds.

Following steady movement on the London Metal Exchange, gold may again shoot up as analysts said it would take its cue from encouraging employment news in the United States last week, where more jobs slated to be added by employers spurred a rally of six key industrial metals, led by zinc and silver, which gained its record level for the past three weeks.

Stockland Corporation Limited (ASX: SGP) is expected to make a second offer within the week after Aevum Limited (ASX: AVE) considered its offer as “neither fair nor reasonable.”

UK new car registrations were down 17.5pct in August from a year ago. New car registrations have now fallen for the second straight month following the end of an incentive to scrap old model vehicles.

The Aussie dollar traded sideways since the commencement of the week's trade bouncing between 0.9145 and 0.9175 for the majority of Monday's Asian session and last night's offshore trade.

The AUD has opened this morning relatively unchanged as the overnight session provided little direction with the US markets closed for Labour Day.

Damages caused by Saturday morning's magnitude 7.0 quake in New Zealand have been estimated to reach $NZ2 billion, but Australian insurance companies claim to have reinsurances.