BUSINESS

The Aspen Group closes with a share price of 45 cents after announcing a flat full-year profit.

Private property investors account for 1.5 residential investment properties in Australia today. The figure represents a quarter of the housing industry nationwide.

The Diploma Group will develop the first stage of Fort Knox in Fremantle, Western Australia. The stage 1 development has an allocation of $11 billion.

A mixture of local and foreign resource analysts said on Monday that giant mining firm BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX: BHP) is set to report a full year profit of $US12.6 billion once the company’s results are made public on Wednesday this week.

Asian stocks oscillated after speculations the mining sector will benefit from a hung parliament in Australia towered above concerns over the strength of the global economic recovery.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) urges companies and other interest groups to maintain business activities in spite of the uncertainty that looms in government.

Moody’s Investor Services said on Monday that Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd’s (ASX: VBA) recent decision to halt all its domestic service routes within New Zealand would redound to considerable benefits for its rivals, Qantas and Air New Zealand.

Caltex Australia is another company that continues to benefit from the strong Australian dollar and the volatility of market forces.

The Australian stock market swung between small gains and losses at midday as resources offset mixed results in other sectors.

Personal savings may still hit the lows in the decades ahead as more Australians are likely to invest in pensions.

The Liquidator of the failed Allco Finance Group has asked for monetary aid from the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) to continue an investigation into a series of ''potential offences'' resulting from alleged breaches of the Corporation Act.

Utility investment firm Spark Infrastructure Group (ASX: SKI) said on Monday that its first half profit for the current year suffered a retreat of almost 20 percent but the decline could be easily reversed as the company projects firm movements on its electricity distribution operations this year.

Personal savings are taking the back seat while households ward off interest rates from mortgages, credit cards, and personal loans.

Mining firm Gindalbie Metals Ltd (ASX: GBG) jumped to the next stage of its Karara iron ore project as it announced on Monday that it has inked a deal with Oakajee Port and Rail that would define its use of the deepwater port near Geraldton in Western Australia.

The Australian Dollar has opened this morning below 0.8900 after sliding from its Friday close in the US of 0.8940 after the results of the Australian federal election on Saturday that has produced the first hung Parliament in 70 years.

The Aussie dollar fell a cent against the greenback in early Australasian trade this morning following the inconclusive election result.

Political uncertainty has pushed the Australian Dollar to open this morning at 0.8860 against the US Dollar, sliding as much as 0.8%.

The Australian stock market is set to open lower today amid uncertainty in the result of the weekend's federal election.

In the past three years, McDonald's in Australia has opened 50 new stores to meet the rising demand for its fast food products. The new stores brings the total number of McDonald's outlets in Australia to 811.

The Australian mining company BHP Billiton could find itself in the middle of the conflict between the Sahrawi people and the Moroccan government due to its bid for the Canadian fertilizer firm Potash Corporation.

The health care industry hopes for a new government that would listen.

The United Kingdom's SAB Miller plans to buyout Australia's largest brewer, the Foster's Group (formerly Carlton and United Breweries) for $A 12.22 billion. The deal would partly put the London-listed brewer in a strategic position to grab the market from Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch inBev.

Potash Corporation chief executive Bill Doyle could be richer by $US445.4 million if BHP Billiton's hostile bid succeeds.

The Australian organic industry is tipped this year to become an AUS$1 Billion industry, according to independent research report commissioned by the Biological Farmers of Australia (BFA).

Households in dwellings two years old or less were more likely to have the energy and water efficiency elements they needed to reach government building standards, but beyond these measures they were quite similar to households in older dwellings, according to a report released Friday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The Australian bourse continued losing at Friday noon, after a weak start led by losses on Wall Street overnight and disappointing profit results.

Surfwear retailer Billabong International Ltd (ASX: BBG) announced on Friday that its net profit for full year 2010 dipped by nearly five percent but the company quickly set that aside and projected that its profit would surge by as much as eight percent for the rest of the year.

The 40 year old wine producer expressed fears mine tunnels would affect the quality of the soil in which their vineyards thrive. The Margaret River Wine Industry Association (MRWIA) boldly approached the State government about the possible effects.

Solid exports are set to lift the national income by 10 per cent in 2010 while unemployment continues to decline, and inflation will likely become a problem over the next two years, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia.