Vittorio Hernandez

The ASX 200 traded lower at the open thanks to the combination of stocks going ex-dividend and the defensive tone inspired by developments in the Ukraine. The market continued to trade lower over the course of the morning with few signs of consolidation. As lunchtime approached the index was still making new lows with a loss of 1.1% or 62 points.

Markets have a lot to digest this morning; a geopolitical crisis in Ukraine, China's PMI index beating expectations (which was a surprise) and the start of central bank week. But the biggest talking point is the developments out of Crimea.

In US economic data, preliminary figures showed the US economy grew at a 2.4% annual rate in the December quarter, just short of forecasts but down from the 3.2% ´´flash´´ reading. Consumer sentiment rose from 81.2 to 81.6 in February. Pending home sales rose by 0.1% in January. And the Chicago purchasing managers index rose from 59.6 to 59.8 in February.

While the attention of the boxing world is on two major fights on April 12 and May 3, in between those dates is a third match featuring a Ukrainian boxer and an Australian pugilist battling for the world heavyweight title on April 27.

The Sochi Winter Games have ended a week ago, but global eyes are still on Russia and the region amid threat from Moscow to conduct military operations in Ukraine. At the centre of this political and military storm is former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, the leading contender to become Ukraine's next president. On Saturday, he urged the country's Parliament to mobilise the army in response to the approval by Russia's upper house to use troops in Ukraine.

Police had arrested the two women, 21-year-old Lana Janet Watmough and 17-year-old Layni Gloria Cameron, who physically assaulted Paul Buttigied a 77-year-old man on Tuesday afternoon aboard a Surfside bus travelling through Kirra in Gold Coast. Their abuse was capture on a mobile phone camera by a 13-year-old girl named Rebecca and was uploaded to YouTube and had become viral with more than 30,000 hits so far.

Qantas continues to suffer from turbulence, not only because of the $252 million first-half loss reported on Thursday and the looming job cuts of 5,000 spread over three years. The threat of being unemployed had angered the unions that are now threatening to strike which could further cripple the financially ailing air carrier. To add fuel to the raging labour fire, Qantas is shouldering the $4 million bill of flying the cast and crew of American TV show Modern Family which is shooting a one-off...

A 39-second video has gone viral in social media, showing a young woman aggressively berating a man, presumed to be her boyfriend, and assaulting him several times on the groin.

Australia is expecting higher export of live sheep and cattle after the Bahrain market reopened over the weekend, while major blocks to resuming live animal trade with Iran has been removed.

British boxer Amir Khan was definitely pissed off by Floyd Mayweather's decision last week to ditch him in favour of Argentinean boxer Marcos Maidana despite his winning an online poll created by Money May.

A video made up of photos of a man's hand being cut off in Syria is circulating in YouTube and has gone viral. The images from Maskanah were initially posted in Twitter but were eventually removed.

The Australian share market closed modestly lower today, and shed 0.6 per cent over the course of what was a very busy week on the corporate reporting calendar.

Having sagged in Thursday's session there was a little more vitality in the opening part of trade on Friday although that experience was short lived. The 30 point improvement seen at the outset was quashed rather quickly as the index quickly returned to the levels of the close last evening.

The mean girls are back. Not the actresses who starred in a movie about misbehaving female students, but two Australian women who attacked a blind elderly man on a Gold Coast bus.

Equities edged higher with the S&P managing to close at a fresh record high as a better-than-expected core durable goods reading and comments by Fed chair Janet Yellen lifted sentiment. However, unemployment claims came in worse than expected and Yellen suggested the recent weakness in data could be largely weather related, but further assessment over the next few weeks will be needed to provide clarity on the matter. Until then, tapering is likely to remain on course at $10 billion a month. The...

In US economic data, durable goods orders fell by a less than expected 1% in January after a 5.3% fall in December. Excluding transportation orders rose by 1.1% in January - the largest rise since May 2013. US jobless claims rose by an unexpected 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000 last week.

With just more than a month away from the anticipated rematch between eight-division title holder Manny Pacquiao and undefeated American boxer Timothy Bradley, exchanges between the two camps are getting more heated. From Manila, Pacquiao's friend, Buboy Fernandez, confirmed what has been expressed a few days ago by coach Freddie Roach that they are pushing for a knockout of Bradley by the Filipino southpaw.

Canadian Justice Minister Peter MacKay tabled a bill in the House of Commons on Wednesday, giving prosecutors more power to force spouse to testify in child pornography cases, provide border officials better ability to trace travelling sex predators and grant the public more access to a new national database of high-risk child sex offenders.

King Entertainment, the creator of the popular online game Candy Crush, has abandoned its trademark on the word "candy" in the U.S. after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office approved it in mid-January.

Former Australian Parliament Speaker Peter Slipper suffered a legal slip on Thursday when an appeal court ruled that his former staff, James Ashby, could pursue the sexual harassment case he filed against his ex-boss.

The cost-cutting measures announced by Qantas on Thursday following its half-year loss of $252 million would result not only in the loss of 5,000 jobs, but also cut in flights.

The Australian share market has fallen victim to profit taking, after a recent bull run. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) lost 26pts or 0.5 per cent on the close to 5421 with weakness from mining, energy and financial players.

The ASX 200 skidded lower at the open of trade plumbing a low of 5412 or a loss of 15 points. Whilst the market found some support in that region sellers were still keen to press their claims, meaning that the index showed little sign of recovering over the morning session

It was another turbulent six months for Australian flag carrier Qantas which reported on Thursday a half-year loss of $252 million. The embattled airline also confirmed rumours that it would cut 5,000 jobs over the next three years.

It was once again another choppy session for US equities, with early gains fading towards the end of the session. Geopolitical concerns also resurfaced on the Ukraine front, and this, along with some encouraging US economic data helped underpin the greenback. New home sales data came in much better than expected at 468,000 (+9.6%) versus an anticipated 406,000. AUD/USD extended its losses after having recovered significant ground following yesterday's sharp sell-off. The pair is back below 0....

In US economic data, new home sales soared by 9.6% in January to a 5-1/2 year high of 468,000. Economists had tipped an annual rate of sales near 400,000. But the weekly mortgage market index fell by 8.5% to 348.5 in the latest week with refinancing down 11.4% and new purchases down 3.5%.

BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen announced on Tuesday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, the launch of two flagship smartphones for the floundering Canadian tech firm - the BlackBerry Z3 and BlackBerry Q20.

Pro-circumcision groups got a boost with the results of a survey made by AdamAndEve.com on female preference in terms of having the foreskin of their male partners cut or not.

Coffee and doughnut shop Tim Hortons is determined to win the coffee war in Canada and the U.S. by an aggressive expansion progamme it announced on Tuesday.