Vittorio Hernandez

There is a shifting preference among Australians in their choice of alcohol consumption in favor of premium drinks over traditional beers.

Beach Energy Limited (ASX: BPT) offered on Monday $94 million to buy out all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares of Adelaide Energy (ASX: ADE) it does not already own.

Rio Tinto Chairman Jan du Plessis said on Friday that while Australia is known as the Land Down Under, present global economic realities is that it is Europe which is down under.

The Reserve Bank of Australia cut Friday its growth forecast for the country to 3.25 per cent from 4 per cent for 2011-12.

More Australian government agencies will shift to cloud computing services in 2012, independent technology analyst firm Ovum said Friday.

After four straight days of gains this week, the Australian sharemarket is finally recording healthy gains with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) up 2.1 pct or 90.7 pts to 4328.2. All sectors are currently higher with the miners the top performers in percentage terms.

National Australia Bank (NAB) continues to generate criticism because of its decision not to pass in full the 25 basis points key lending rate cut made by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) earlier this week.

Embattled Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce took responsibility for the grounding of the air carrier's planes and crew on Saturday and Sunday which stranded almost 100,000 passengers.

Global markets extended their gains overnight, as Greece dropped voting on its financial rescue and the European Central Bank unexpectedly cut interest rates. Markets cheered the news and gains were posted across the board. The ECB surprised the markets with a 25 basis point rate cut to 1.25% to bolster economies reeling from the debt crisis. New ECB President Mario Draghi made it clear that the euro area is at risk of relapsing into a mild recession.

The Australian dollar has rallied overnight following positive moves in offshore markets.

US ISM non-manufacturing index eased modestly from 53.0 to 52.9 in October. A reading above 50 indicates the sector is expanding. Business activity, new orders and exports remained healthy.

The Australian sharemarket lost ground today for the fourth consecutive day, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) down 0.3 pct or 13.8 pts to 4237.5. Almost all sectors lost ground, with the financials and energy stocks the biggest drag on trade.

Australian Bankers' Association Chief Executive Steven Munchenberg defended Thursday the healthy profits registered over the week by local banks.

Australia was named the second-best country in the world to live in based on the United Nations Human Development Index released on Thursday.

Australian start-up tech firm Lexxe announced on Thursday the launch of its third-generation Internet search engine which uses Semantic Key Search to yield specific target information based on application of natural language search technology.

Local stocks are coming under selling pressure in early trade, despite optimism returning on Wall Street and in Europe. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 20.4pts or 0.5pct to 4230.9 at lunchtime in the East.

Toyota will make health care robots available in the market by 2013. The mechanical assistants would be capable of lifting disabled patients out of bed and helping them walk.

Qantas would immediately refund passengers for canceled flights and out-of-pocket expenses caused by Chief Executive Alan Joyce's unilateral decision to ground all crew and flights on Saturday until Monday noon. However, to get immediate refunds, ticket holders must contact Qantas's call centre.

The Australian dollar had a relatively quiet session overnight despite the ongoing turmoil in international markets.

U.S. stocks bounced back after a sharp two-day selloff, as investors took hope in the Federal Reserve's pledge to support the economy and looked ahead to a meeting of world leaders in Cannes. In a reflection of recent volatility, the blue-chip Dow gained 219 points in morning trading before slashing those gains in half by the afternoon.

The ADP Employment Survey showed that the US private sector added 110,000 jobs in October. The result was ahead of forecasts and all the job gains came from small and medium sized businesses. In addition September job gains were revised higher from 91,000 to 116,000.

Rio Tinto will buy from Japanese firm Komatsu Limited 150 driverless trucks in the next four years under its Mine of the Future programme.

The local share market is being heavily sold off at lunchtime in the East, after US and European share markets tumbled overnight on fears the European bailout package could be jeopardised. Greece's Prime Minister unexpectedly called for a public referendum on the package, causing investors around the globe to sell out of equities on fears the Greek public won't accept it. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 63.5pts or 1.5pct to 4233.7.

Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan called National Australia Bank (NAB) on Tuesday greedy for giving borrowers a smaller interest rate cut.

Like other western nations, Australia is engaged in a battle of the bulge as obesity rates soar.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation will check if millions of client accounts are missing after American brokerage firm MF Global filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday over its $6.5 billion eurozone debt exposure.

The ongoing legal battle between Samsung Electronics and Apple for a larger share of the Australian techie market escalated further on Tuesday after the South Korean firm sought a look into Apple's deals with major Australian telcos.

Global markets extended their losses overnight on renewed concerns over the European crisis. News that Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou announced a referendum to approve a second EU bailout deal for the country rattled investors. Should the referendum be defeated, all the work put in by European leaders to save the region would have been undone. It could lead to a disorderly default in Greece and bank failures across Europe.

The Australian Dollar is weaker against the US Dollar following yesterday's rate cut by the RBA, softer than expected Chinese PMI data and Greece's announcement of a referendum on last week's Euro-zone bailout package.