Vittorio Hernandez

The local share market enjoyed a strong session today, with investor sentiment boosted by a positive offshore lead, better than expected Chinese economic data and strong quarterly production reports from a number of our key mining and energy companies. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) added 68.8pts by close or 1.6pct to 4277.7 while the S&P/ASX 200 Index (XJO) firmed by 68.4pts or 1.7pct to 4215.6.

The acceptance of gold as a reserve requirement held by Turkish banks led to a rise of holdings of the yellow metal. In November, Turkey added 63 tonnes of gold, which boosted the purchase of gold by 41.3 per cent. It was the largest increase in gold buys that month.

Aircraft manufacturer BAE Systems will taps its Australian unit to put in place an aerospace component manufacturing operation in Adelaide which would produce titanium parts for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will make banks from Australia and 17 other nations undergo a stress test to ensure these lenders could withstand another financial crisis. It is part of the required five-year check-up of the top 25 global financial sectors.

After the Australian market closed lower yesterday by 47 points or just over 1pct, this morning the All Ordinaries index (XAO) turned the corner opening up 34 points higher.

Reflecting Australia's two-speed economy, job prospects in the country's banking sector are expected to be bleak for 2012 while the resources sector has thousands of job openings and even has to take in immigrant workers to fill in the vacancies.

The Australian sharemarket has pulled back today following a negative end to the week from global markets and ratings downgrades for a number of Eurozone economies. The All Ordinaries index (XAO) fell 1.1 pct or 46.5 pts to 4208.9 however activity remained light due to a public holiday in the U.S tonight.

Australian oil and gas producer Santos (ASX: STO) gave the approval to develop the $490-million Fletcher Finucane project off the northwest coast of Western Australia (WA).

Australia should join the bandwagon of nations that are putting in place high-speed rail networks, the Australasian Railway Association (ARA) pushed on Monday. The transport group pointed out that Australia and Antarctica are the only continents without a high-speed rail network.

Australia ranked third on the 2012 Index of Economic Freedom released on Friday by U.S. think tank Heritage Foundation. Hong Kong topped the list, followed by Singapore.

The Australian sharemarket has kicked off the week in the red with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) down 1 pct or 41.3 pts to 4214.1. Almost all sectors are losing ground however the miners are the worst performers, down around 1.3 pct.

Although the Australian stock market was expected to be the first major market to react to the Standard & Poor's downgrade of nine European nations, the response was relatively subdued.

The iOS has obtained exclusivity of the virtual assistant SIRI and gained remarkable scores and comments from users and critics. It has made iOS smartphones unique against the Android devices by defining the meaning of intelligence. However, the virtual assistant is still in development for best usage in a lot of countries.

The Australian sharemarket managed to end higher for the third time this week, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) rising 0.4 pct or 17 pts to 4255.4. This is the third time this week that shares locally improved, something which has not happened in well over a month. The XAO rose by 2.1 pct over the week adding to last week's 1.3 pct improvement.

When Bill Shorten was promoted by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in December 2011, political observers said the MP was given a boost to future national leadership claim.

In 2012 the world of smartphones is expected to be excited anew with the release of Samsung Galaxy S3 on February. But two of its challengers, Sony and LG, have already given a sneak peek even as S3's release approaches fast. Both of their devices are high-end and Android-powered as well.

ANZ Bank made Australian banking history on Friday the 13th by making good its previous announcement to set its interest rates independent from the overnight cash rates made by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

The Australian sharemarket is improving for the third time this week, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) up 0.4 pct or 15 pts to 4253.4. Almost all sectors are higher however the consumer staples and telcos are trading in the red.

Despite the continuous rise of aviation fuel prices, Australian airlines are not inclined to collect a surcharge on overweight air passengers.

The Australian sharemarket failed to make it three straight sessions of gains today, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) easing by a modest 0.1 pct or 4.5 pts to 4238.4. The market's second largest sector, the miners managed to record some modest gains while the larger financial sector lost a little ground.

While the mining boom has generally benefited Australia's economy in general, certain groups reaped more than others did. One of the groups that thrived on the boom more than others is that of immigrant workers.

Although forecasts say global aluminium prices may go up for the first quarter of 2012, prospects are bleak for the aluminium sector in Australia.

The Australian sharemarket is largely flat at lunch, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) down only 1.4 pts to 4241.5. The market's largest sector, the financials are up 0.2 pct with BHP Billiton (BHP) up 0.08 pct or 3 cents to $36.21 while the smaller RIO Tinto (RIO) is 0.12 pct or 8 cents higher to $64.27.

While slowdown and recession are the buzzwords in many parts of the world because of the threat of another global financial crisis over European debt, in Australia the key words are expansion and boom.

The Australian sharemarket gained for the second consecutive day today which has been somewhat of a rarity recently. The All Ordinaries index (XAO) ended the session 0.9 pct or 36.3 pts higher to 4242.9. In fact over the past six weeks, shares have improved for two straight sessions only three times. The last time Aussie shares rose for three consecutive days was back at the end of November 2011.

Several cases of underpayment among workers in the retail and services industries have been noticed and acted upon by Fair Work Australia (FWA).

Climate change is changing the financial landscape of Australian insurance companies. The Insurance Australia Group (IAG), whose profit margin is expected to be hit anew by natural catastrophes, warned that the changing and less-predictable climate has the potential to reduce insurers' capacity to calculate, price and spread the weather-related risk.

Stiffer competition is expected in Australia's stock market with the offer by the revitalised National Stock Exchange of Australia (NSX) to reduce broker application fees to zero. The new policy took effect on Jan 1, 2012, the same week that the NSX added 30 firms to its listing.

The Australian sharemarket is gaining for the second consecutive session at lunch, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) up 0.9 pct or 39.1 pts to 4245.7. The defensive healthcare and telecom services sectors are pulling back after a few hours of trade however.