POLITICS & POLICY

Rising Incomes Will Push Gold Demand in China to Overdrive India’s

As rising incomes help boost the demand of the safe-haven precious yellow metal gold in China, it is quite probable that the world's second-largest economy, also the world's largest gold producer, will topple long recognised India as the world's largest gold bullion market in 2012.

Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon 5/17/2012

The Australian sharemarket ended a little lower today, despite a positive start to the session. The ASX200 Index (XJO) fell 0.2 pct or 8.1 pts to 4157.4. Early in the session, investors seemed encouraged by news that the Japanese economy grew at a faster than expected pace last quarter. Japan is Australia's second largest trading partner and accounts for around 12.3 pct of all goods and services exported overseas.
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Australia Ranked 7th Worst Polluter on Earth

Conservation group World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has compiled the latest report how countries balance economic growth with ecological conservation and Australia is in the top 10, closely behind the United States and the Arab nations Qatar, Kuwait, and the UAE.

Global Markets Overview - 05/17/2012

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for a fourth straight day as confusion over Greece's political future extended the recent stock slide. The blue-chip Dow lost 33.45 points, or 0.26%, to 12598.55, to finish at the day's lows.

Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon 5/16/2012

The Australian sharemarket lost ground for the second consecutive day, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) falling by 2.4 pct or 101.6 pts to 4214.7. Shares have fallen by around 5 pct so far this month and have significantly reduced the gains for the calendar year to just 2.5 pct.

Australian Dollar Outlook - 05/16/2012

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has opened slightly lower again this morning after talks between Greece's political parties failed, which led to safe haven interest in the US Dollar and adding to the recent weakness in our own currency.

Australian Stock Market Report - Morning - 05/16/2012

MORNING REPORT. The Empire manufacturing survey rebounded jumping from 6.56 to 17.09 in May. Across the sub-indices both new orders and shipments recorded healthy (7am AEST)US advance retail sales edged rose by 0.1pct in April after the brisk 0.8pct rise in Marchgains.

Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon 5/15/2012

The Australian sharemarket received a negative lead from global markets last night, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) ending 0.8 pct or 35.6 pts lower to 4316.3. This was no major surprise as European shares hit a four-month low and dropped by around 2 pct last night. The situation in Greece continued to weigh heavily on investor confidence while Moody's (one of the major ratings agencies) downgraded 26 Italian banks last night by between one and four notches. This included Unicredit and In...

China, Philippine Tensions Hit Airline Industry

Not only numbers in the arrival of tourist exchanges are affected in the ongoing tensions between China and the Philippines, but also the potential income of the airline industry shuttling the tourists between the two Asian countries.

Japan Sets LNG Forum in 3Q

Japan, which has since expanded its energy mix in a bid to rely less on nuclear power, has scheduled a public forum of producers and consumers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Tokyo on September.

Carbon Tax Worries Australian Businesses

About 64 per cent of 1,000 Australian businesses surveyed by the Pricewaterhouse Cooper's (PwC) Private Business Barometer worry about the direct hit their business will suffer from the carbon tax.

Global Markets Overview – 5/15/2012

Last night it was a case of 'same story, different day'. Despite ongoing negotiations between the various political parties to cobble together a coalition government, an agreement failed to be reached, making fresh elections next month the most likely scenario. With repeat elections predicted to lead to a socialist/anti-bailout biased government, fears have intensified that a Greek exit from the European Union is on the verge of becoming inevitable. Some have predicted such a scenario wou...

Australian Stock Market Report – Morning 5/15/2012

Euro-zone industrial production fell by 0.3pct in March, taking the annual contraction to -2.2pct - the lowest annual pace since 2009. Performance across the four major Eurozone countries was again vastly divergent. Industrial production over the year to March stood at: Germany (+1.4pct), France (-1.2pct), Italy(-5.8pct) and Spain (-7.5pct).

Another Rate Cut from RBA?

Many analysts and economists believe that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) would likely not cut the overnight cash rate in the near future because of the release last week of the unemployment data which surprisingly went down to 4.9 per cent in April instead of the expected 5.3 per cent.

Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon 5/14/2012

The Australian sharemarket has kicked off the week in better form, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up 0.2 pct or 9.2 pts to 4351.9. Last week was the worst weekly performance for the local market in around six months. This weekend, the Chinese Central Bank cut its reserve requirements for Chinese banks to give the economy a bit of a boost. This essentially means that banks will have more cash to lend out to borrowers.

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