POLITICS & POLICY

Global miners Rio Tinto Group, BHP Billiton Ltd. and Vale SA, in a testament to China's global influence in the supply and price movements of iron ore, have decided to link hands with Beijing and join the Asian country's new spot trading platform for the raw commodity.

In an apparent firm demonstration of its commitment to reduce its gas emissions contribution, China has announced it will start controlling domestic production and corresponding usage of coal in the next five years through 2015.

Australia has signed a A$30 billion currency exchange deal with the world's second largest economy, China, to foster bilateral trade and investment, in what could also be seen as a confirming testament to the yuan's increasing buying power and global market reach.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian dollar has continued its tumble overnight as shrinking manufacturing data in China and Europe bolstered safe haven demand for the US dollar.

Stocks traded lower following weak economic signals from the euro zone and fresh concerns from China about slowing global growth. After rising to multiyear highs in recent days, major benchmarks extended their retreat into a third session Thursday. Sectors especially exposed to global growth, such as energy, materials and industrials, were the session's biggest decliners.

MORNING REPORT (7am AEDT)Flash PMIs dropped surprisingly in Germany, France and for the Euro-zone composite. The biggest surprise was the German manufacturing PMI which fell from 50.2 to 48.0. The French manufacturing PMI fell even more sharply, from 50.0 to 47.6.

Soft orders and oversupply could drive down the global market price of commodities but Australia's earnings from shipments of the products will continue climbing, according to the latest estimates provided Wednesday by the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE).

On Sunday, March 25th, thousands of pro-democracy campaigners will show their protest by marching down the streets of Hong Kong.

Holden will continue assembling its flagship vehicles within Australia through the next decade on the strength of the $275 million assistance that the carmaker has secured from both the national and state governments.

The scheduled deployment of U.S. Marines in Australia will commence next month, reports said, with the initial 10 percent of the announced number of troops set to be shipped to Darwin.

Despite sales of automobiles in China seen to lose its spark this year owing to economic cuts and rising fuel costs, domestic car manufacturer Chery announced on Wednesday it has reached an agreement with Indian-owned luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to create and set-up a joint venture project in China.

Australia, the world's largest shipper of the raw commodity iron ore, has earmarked an iron ore export projection of 473 million tonnes in the year to June 2012, up by nearly 3 per cent from an earlier forecast of 460 million tonnes, even as it forecast that prices of the raw commodity used to make steel will decline 8.5 per cent this year.

With rare earths getting more controversial, what with last week's gung ho complaint filing of economic leaders U.S., the European Union and Japan against China before the World Trade Organization (WTO) because of its supply restrictions of the precious metal, Canadian-based rare earths miner Pacific Wildcat Resources Corp. could just be in the nick of time as it announced of a potential second mine in Kenya this year.

The Australian stock market is off to a subdued trading Thursday as investors cautiously stay at the sidelines observing how China will try to ease its economic challenges that could have a direct impact Australia's economy.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian dollar was sold back down through USD1.0500 overnight as another round of USD buying emerged.

Morning Report.US existing home sales continued the run of soft US housing market news this week. Sales fell by 0.9pct to a seasonally adjusted pace of 4.59 million units in February.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average headed towards a second consecutive loss as sagging energy stocks and the latest housing news weighed on investors. The blue-chip Dow slipped 27 points, or 0.2%, to 13143 in late trading. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index traded roughly flat at 1406, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 12 points, or 0.4%, to 3086.

In a recent report by the Associated Press, New York City statistician Justin Bassett had just finished answering a few character questions when the interviewer turned to her computer to search for his Facebook page. Why should companies require an 'acceptable' Facebook page from applicants today, when recruitment had worked fine without Facebook in the past?

In a recent report by the Associated Press, New York City statistician Justin Bassett had just finished answering a few character questions when the interviewer turned to her computer to search for his Facebook page. Why should companies require an 'acceptable' Facebook page from applicants today, when recruitment had worked fine without Facebook in the past?

The exodus of Kiwis for Australia has reached a new high, with departures accelerating to a record 53,000 last month, Businessdesk reports.

Government officials blasted at Queensland billionaire Clive Palmer for accusing specific groups of plotting to destroy the Australian economy.

The Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) of Malaysia has been ordered by a High Court Judge to render the details of the controversial temporary operating licence (TOL) it awarded to Australian miner Lynas Corp. in relation to its Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) rare earths facility in Gebeng, near Kuantan.

Chinese car aficionados who have been long eyeing that Daimler, Volkwagen and BMW, among a few, may very well decide to purchase that dream car now as Western automobile makers may likely reduce certain percentages off the selling price of their products in a bid to meet sales quotas amid the economic cuts and rising fuel costs in China.

Combined steel output by the world's various steel-making countries grew marginally in February, up by 1.9 per cent to 119 million tonnes compared from a year ago, the World Steel Association (WSA) said on Tuesday.

A slow, lackadaisical trading is anticipated on Wednesday's Australian stock market as a grueling impact of low commodity exports further hammered down potential export earnings in correlation with China's weakening demand.

The two Italian men who were kidnapped from the eastern Indian state of Orissa are still not released. Rebels say their demands must be met.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The AUD has opened this morning below USD1.0500 after reaching a level above USD1.0600 yesterday after the RBA's March meeting minutes were released.

MORNING REPORT (7am AEDT - Due to the change in daylight saving hours in the US - Wall street now closes at 7am AEDT)US housing starts fell 1.1pct to a seasonally adjusted rate of 698,000 units in February. However January starts were revised modestly higher. Building permits which lead starts, ticked up to 717k, suggesting that the fall in starts was just a temporary dip. The underlying trend is of very gradual improvement.

U.S. stocks fell as concerns about China's economic growth gave pause to a rally that pushed benchmarks to their highest levels in years. Stocks opened lower Tuesday and held losses in afternoon trading.