POLITICS & POLICY

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has opened around 1.0700 and is little changed from Friday's close as the leadership vote in the Australian Labour Party caucus commences at 10 am today.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index squeaked out its highest close since 2008, as most stocks traded higher after better-than-expected reports on home sales and consumer sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.74 points, or 0.01%, to 12982.95, after reaching above the 13000 mark earlier in the session.

Amidst a global financial pandemonium, the group collectively known as BRIC - the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China - in a show of collective strength is contemplating pooling resources and funds together to create a multilateral bank, but only by and for the exclusive use of developing nations such as theirs.

Resigned Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said on Friday in a Brisbane press conference that he will challenge Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard for the leadership of the Australia Labor Party (ALP).He arrived earlier on the same day from Washington.

Ethiopia, Africa's second-most populous nation, wants to sell portions of its state-owned tantalum rare earth mine to foreign countries, and it wants investors from China, Sweden, Germany or South Korea to make a bid on it.

Both the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the ANZ Bank are apparently sending mixed signals to the public when it comes to interest rate setting. While RBA Governor Glenn Stevens said on one hand that the large Australian banks are not too profitable, he maintained on the other hand that the overnight cash rate of 4.25 per cent is where it should be even if the big four have lifted their lending rates.

The National Broadband Network nears its full realisation as Telstra Corporation submitted on Thursday its revised plan that will pave the way for NBN Co to assume control of the giant telco's national communication network.

Kevin Rudd was impossible as a boss, according to Attorney General Nicola Roxon, who served as head of the Health Ministry until the former prime minister was booted out in a party coup in 2010.

A day after he resigned from his post, former Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd is back in Australia. In a press briefing on Friday morning upon his arrival at Brisbane Airport, Mr Rudd said he would make a statement later within the day on his plans about the Australian Labor Party leadership ballot on Monday.

Unconfirmed media reports on Thursday circulated that Vale, the world's second largest metals and mining company and global leader in iron ore production, is reportedly eyeing to buy into Australian iron ore resources to strategize its shipment schemes to the Asian market.

The Adani Group of India has allotted a $6 billion worth of funds for projected coal mine-related expenditures as it pushes through with its overseas expansion plans in Australia and Indonesia by 2015.

The Australian stock market is bound to benefit from the overnight gains posted by markets in the U.S. and Europe. The S&P 500 traded near 10-month highs and the Dow once again flirted within the 13,000 level.

U.S. stocks overcame early losses, as a new round of economic data supported the market and strong performance from individual stocks pulled up two of the major indexes.

The Australian sharemarket lost ground for the first time in five sessions today, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) down 0.1 pct or 4.6 pts to 4367.5. The energy sector performed strongly; however weakness from both the miners and big banks dragged the market slightly into the red.

China's loss may well be very much the U.S.' gain as American rare earths producer Molycorp, Inc. on Wednesday announced the sequential start-up of its $895-million worth new Project Phoenix rare earth manufacturing facility at its flagship Mountain Pass, California operation, ahead of an April 1 target schedule.

The raging battle in Syria claimed the lives of two international journalists covering the siege on Wednesday being staged by Syrian security forces on the city of Homs, where hundreds of civilians have reportedly been killed so far more than two weeks of military assault.

Just when it committed last year to lessen, if not totally eradicate, its dependency on coal to fuel its energy requirements via a sworn participation into the Kyoto Protocol, China's energy use, and parallel coal consumption usage, has risen by 7 percent over a year ago, based on preliminary calculations by the National Bureau of Statistics released on Wednesday.

China has outlined a five-year plan meant to fast-track the development of its domestic downstream industries that use rare earths, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Wednesday.

Amidst the existing threats to her government, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has assured South Australia that the Murray River will be protected even as the controversial Murray Darling Basin Plan is set to be finalised before the end of 2012.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd resigned from his post Wednesday night, leading to a leadership battle in the Australian Labor Party. Rudd, who was ousted as prime minister by Julia Gillard in 2010, said he has lost her confidence.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian dollar has had a relatively quiet trading session overnight, despite the political uncertainty created by Kevin Rudd's resignation as Foreign Minister late yesterday.

Further easing is seen in the local stock market on Thursday with investors taking to the sidelines with no significant progress made in the economic fronts of Europe and the U.S.

U.S. stocks pared their losses to trade a touch lower as investors took a cautious stance on the European economic outlook after the Dow's rise to the cusp of new highs.

The continuing rift within Australia's Labour Party has forced Kevin Rudd to rescind his post as the country's Foreign Minister stressing this is the most honourable thing to do amidst the political attacks marring his credibility.

The Australian sharemarket rose slightly today for the fourth consecutive day. Four straight sessions of gains is something the market has not accomplished since the end of November last year. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) edged higher by 0.1 pct or 3.9 pts to 4372.1.

Same-sex marriage in Australia is inevitable, and this came from PM Julia Gillard, according to the couples who dined with her at the Lodge Tuesday night, and some of them carried personal discussions on the future of the legalization of their unions in Australia.

The Minerals Council of Australia is supporting the minerals resource rent tax. Mitch Hooke, chief of the council, told a Senate hearing in Canberra on Tuesday that the proposed 30 per cent tax on profits of large coal and iron producers is workable.

Distractions continue to haunt the federal government as the ruling Australian Labor Party struggles to address the nagging leadership speculations that threatens to end the barely two-year rule of Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has backed the claim of Australian lenders that funding costs sourced from overseas have risen.