BUSINESS

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.

The Australian share market opens flat, primarily, because the European markets had a firm closing and US markets being closed overnight for Labor day.

Resource giant Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) announced on Monday it is midway through a share buyback program designed to simplify its dual-listed structure.

Willmott Forests has been placed in receivership by its bankers, emulating the downward spiral of collapsed managed investment scheme (MIS) operators Timbercorp and Great Southern.

The Australian bourse ended Monday's trading day strongly, with gains accelerating in the afternoon as banks and miners rose, overshadowing heavy losses by Macquarie Group after the investment bank announced a profit downgrade.

The police and the consumer protection commission in Western Australia issued a joint warning against the growing number of Ponzi schemes.

The banking industry in Australia has seen a growth in term deposits.

Miners are threatening to restart anti-tax campaign, potentially bringing back the controversy over the government's resource levy.