The New Zealand Embassy was hit when Taliban insurgents on Sunday launched violent attacks on several sites in Kabul, Afghanistan. Insurgents fired grenades and automatic weapons in a series of attacks in the country’s capital, and it has been described by foreign media as one of the most serious in years.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose amid better-than-expected retail sales data, while Apple shares' biggest drop since October pulled other major benchmarks into the red. The Dow bounced from its biggest weekly slide of the year to rise 71.82 points, or 0.6%, to 12921.41.
Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is trading relatively unchanged this morning from yesterday's levels following a choppy night of trading with equities mixed, US Treasuries little changed and upward pressure on European bond yields.
MORNING REPORT
(7am AEST)US retail sales rose by a larger than expected 0.8pct in March after rising by 1.0pct in February. Forecasts centred on 0.3pct growth. Excluding autos and gasoline sales rose by 0.7pct.
The Australian sharemarket lost ground for the first time in three sessions, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) down 0.5 pct or 21.7 pts to 4382.5. All sectors ended in the red with the exception of the telcos, with Telstra (TLS) up 0.3 pct or 1 cent to $3.37.
Opposition lawmakers have called on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to apply pressure on embattled Labor MP Craig Thomson to cooperate with all police inquiries that seek to shed light on the alleged corruption that marred the Health Services Union (HSU) operations under his watch.
A recent survey into the Pogo Mine, a large gold mine located in Interior Alaska, has yielded a new discovery of at least 1.2 million ounces of gold.
Australian banker Westpac Bank, the country's second largest by market capitalisation, has been granted a license by the Indian central bank to set up a branch in the region.
China is calling on New Zealand to provide a policy environment that will create a fast track for Chinese investment, according to China's fourth-ranked leader, Jia Qinglin, who made the remark in a contribution to the New Zealand Herald.
Trade Minister Tim Groser says New Zealand must strengthen economic ties with Indonesia, New Zealand Herald reports. Even as Mr Groser acknowledged "some problems" within Indonesia, he stressed Indonesia was a fully democratic state and hinted New Zealand should look closely into opportunities with the fast-developing Southeast Asian nation.
The Coalition says Australian banks were merely laying out policies that would shield their profit margins as Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) decided on Friday last week to push up its interest rate, again ignoring the April rates hold announced by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).
Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar retraced during Friday night's trading after China's Q1 GDP data disappointed the market with an increase of 8.1% yoy and has opened in the mid 1.0300's this morning.
U.S. stocks fell sharply Friday, capping this year's biggest weekly declines, after disappointing economic data from China and rising borrowing costs in Spain damped sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 136.99 points, or 1.1%, to 12849.59, while the S&P 500 lost 17.31 points, or 1.3%, to 1370.26
MORNING REPORT
(6am AEST)US consumer prices rose by 0.3pct in March with core prices (excludes food and energy) up by 0.2pct. Both results were in line with expectations. Consumer sentiment eased from 76.2 to 75.7 in April, below forecasts centred on a result near 76.2.
As expected, ANZ Bank made a Friday, the 13th interest rate announcement that would probably horrify most borrowers. The bank hiked its variable home loan and small business loan interest rates by 0.06 per cent.
The mining industry resumed its fight against what it called excessive tax measures being unleashed by the federal government with the publication of full-page ads that called attention on alleged tax hikes planned by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard opened on Friday the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting with emphasis on two main agenda - reducing regulatory hurdles and addressing the skills shortages.
Local stocks snapped a four day losing streak yesterday and our market has started off well again today, after US and European markets rallied on strong Chinese data and anticipation of more good news out of China today.
Finance Minister Penny Wong said on Friday that the Wednesday announcement by BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) that it would close its Norwich Park coking coal mine in Queensland is not an indicator of the state of the mining industry in Australia.
A proposed 3500-capacity National Convention Centre in Auckland is expected to draw more tourists to the city, generating significant revenues for the government, New Zealand Herald reports.
Bell FX Currency Outlook: Positive economic sentiment out of the US and China, coupled with strong domestic jobs data, has seen the AUD surge higher and open back above USD1.0400 this morning.
Strike one for Lynas opponents.Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp., whose Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) facility in Malaysia is almost complete but still unoperational, has scored a win against the locals who contested the authenticity of the rare earths temporary operating licence (TOL) issued by the country's Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) in early February.
South Korean Defence Ministry spokesperson Kim Min-seok told reporters that North Korea's controversial and internationally-opposed rocket has been fired at 07:39 local time today, BBC reports. The National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) had imposed "no fly, no sail, and no fishing" in Luzon Thursday, lifted it around 1 p.m. and place it back again on Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its biggest one-day surge in nearly a month after the New York Federal Reserve Bank's president reiterated that interest rates likely will remain low and traders took an optimistic view of global growth.
MORNING REPORT
(7am AEST)US jobless claims rose by a surprising 13,000 to 380,000 last week - a two-month high. Economists had expected weekly claims to fall to 355,000. The US trade deficit shrank by 12.4pct to $46 billion in February, as exports hit a record high. It was the biggest monthly decline in the trade shortfall since May 2009.
Until the unemployment report came out on Thursday, economists and analysts were anticipating a larger cut on the overnight cash rate when the Reserve Bank of Australia meets in May. Their expectations range from 25 to 75 basis points rate cut.
The government was asking too much from the mining industry, according to leading resource players, as they scored a new federal regulation that require them to furnish information that would allow non-mining firms to capitalise too on the ongoing mining boom.
Yesterday the Australian share market sold off from the open and the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) closed down 46 points or 1.1pct. After a better night on overseas markets the Australian market opened 6 points higher this morning. The concerns over European growth were still around, but investors were happy to hear that the European Central Bank could extend its bond buying program if needed to stimulate the economies.
Acknowledging that the present aged care system badly needs overhaul, the federal government is mulling for ways to effectively address the problem without derailing its goal of realising a surplus by 2013.
Iran has announced a jump in its gold reserves allocation to 320 tons after a discovery of three new gold mines showed 16 tonnes of proven net gold reserves, the Fars News Agency reported on Wednesday.
