BUSINESS

For the first day of trading for 2015 we saw the Australian market opened slightly weaker off 12points before coming back to be only down 5points by 10.30am ESDT.

Oil prices have been falling for the past few months. This has led to some concern among the oil exporting countries.

After he heard that AirAsia Flight QZ8501 was missing less than an hour after the Airbus jet left Surabaya for Singapore, Tony Fernandez, the CEO of the embattled air carrier was in the Indonesian city within the same day.

How would next leader of the oil-rich Kingdom of Saudi Arabia respond to oil prices and the Islamic State problem is now being speculated following the hospitalization of King Abdullah bin Adulaziz on Wednesday.

Most global financial markets were closed on Thursday for the New Years Day holiday.

New Zealand and other smaller island nations in the Pacific have expressed fears concerning the decline of tuna stocks.

Australian shares failed to maintain early gains and finished modestly lower this holiday-shortened trading session. Volume was very light; in fact today was the quietest day of 2014 with only $1.3bn worth of shares traded.

Oil prices have been dropping continuously since July this year, raising concerns in some countries.

Australian shares are flat in what has been a volatile but quiet week for local stocks. The ASX 200 is up just 2pts at lunch, slumped by 1 per cent yesterday and surged by 1.5 per cent on Monday. It has been half as busy as usual so far this week - with investors in holiday mode. Today is likely to be an uneventful session for the Australian market as the ASX will be closing at 14:10pm AEDT (two hours earlier than usual).

Even before Indonesian officials confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crashed and is on the ocean floor, the embattled air carrier's share had plummeted 13 percent on new of its disappearance on Sunday.

RetireAustralia, the fourth biggest retirement village company in Australia, was bought for $670 million by NZ Superannuation and Infratil.

Authorities arrested and sent to jail on Tuesday Cho Hyun-Ah, the Korean Air vice president whose rage over being served macadamia nuts in a plastic bag instead of on a plate delayed the plane's departure and arrival.

Global markets are set to finish the year with a bit of downside on the back of resurfacing Greece concerns. Some analysts feel another Greek political debacle will make it harder for ECB President Mario Draghi to pursue his grand plan of sovereign bond purchases given opposition from other northern nations such as Germany. There will be little event risk to look out for across the region today with some key markets like Japan already closed for New Year's related holidays. Perhaps China's...

Australian shares extended their losses this afternoon to shed 1 per cent and wipe out a chunk of yesterday's 1.5 per cent surge.

Because of yearend revelry wherein Australians would consume alcohol or travel to other places, many adults would misplace their wallets and bags, resulting in lost credit cards.

Australian shares are easing for just the second time in eight trading sessions following yesterday's 2.5 per cent surge. The ASX 200 Index is down by 0.3 per cent on light volume due to the holiday interrupted trading week.

The macadamia nut industry has resigned Korea Air Vice President Heather Cho to thank for because her air rage over being served the nuts in a plastic bag instead of a plate saw a large increase in demand for the controversial nut in South Korea.

Start the year with a fresh approach to handling money

With no sign of the missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 after two days of surveillance, the search was widened on Tuesday in terms of a bigger area and more teams joining.

Russian economy has been under pressure from economic sanctions imposed by the U.S and the European Union and low oil prices.

The main headline from overnight trade was Greece's failure to elect presidential nominee Stavros Dimas in its final attempt. After two failed attempts, yesterday was parliament's last chance to elect him as president before being forced into an early election. Having failed yet again, the country will be headed back to the polls as early as January 25. An election puts all sorts of doubt on the future of the bailout agreement given anti-austerity party Syriza is currently leading the poll...

In US economic data, the Dallas Federal Reserve manufacturing index eased from +10.5 to +4.1 in December.

Fear of Ebola is preventing people from Guinea and other west African countries from getting necessary attention on malaria.

Fears have emerged that Australia's investor visa scheme may be used by corrupt Chinese officials to escape liability.

More Australians are giving unwanted Christmas presents that is why for 2014, the number of such gifts rose to 20.3 million from 14.2 million in 2013.

Listed shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) had been named the most traded stock among retail investors in 2014. The stock split in June allowed small investors to trade more of the company's stocks.

Airlift rescue operations continue on the burning Norman Atlantic off the island of Corfu.

Australian shares surged despite a substantial fall in market activity (volume). The ASX 200 Index extended earlier gains to finish 1.5 per cent firmer by close; finishing at intraday highs.

No Canadians were believed to have been passengers on board the ill-fated AirAsia Flight QZ8501 that went missing on Sunday.