Vittorio Hernandez

Reports said that Pope Francis sneaks out at night from Vatican, not wearing his papal vestments but disguised as an ordinary priest, to give alms to the poor and homeless.

Virgin Australia won round 1 of its rivalry with flag carrier Qantas after the Takeover Panel allowed on Tuesday Virgin to pursue its controversial $350 million capital raising scheme that would boost foreign ownership and give the upstart airline more financial power to compete with the financially embattled Qantas.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has threatened on Tuesday Labor MPs to put on his Uncle Scrooge cap and cancel Parliament's Christmas break if the lawmakers from the Opposition agrees to pass the Abbott-led government's legislative agenda.

As expected the Reserve Bank kept the cash rate on hold at 2.5 per cent for the fourth straight month, which had little impact on the broader sharemarket. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) slipped by 0.45 per cent, with the mining sector the biggest contributor to the weakness.

The early hours of trade on Tuesday saw a tussle develop between buyers and sellers. The lows were put in place in the first half hour of trade. The index recovered thereafter although in the run up to lunch the market made news session lows, indicating that the afternoon could be spent exploring areas of technical support.

As with everything in the currency world, there are two sides to every trade.

In US economic news, the ISM manufacturing index lifted from 56.4 to a 31-month high of 57.3 in November, above forecasts for a result near 55.0. Construction spending rose by 0.8%, above forecasts tipping a 0.4% rise.

While Viagra, the life saver of many men with erectile dysfunction, has helped improved the sex lives of males, it has failed to boost their relationships notwithstanding its assistance in keeping their partners happy in bed.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday that he is open to the idea of the federal government increasing its stake in national flag carrier to provide it with financial power amid greater competition from rival air carrier Virgin Australia.

Lawyers for the 43,500 ANZ Bank customers who filed a class action lawsuit against the lender, seeking $57 million in damage, said the claims could balloon into multi-billion dollars.

The Australian sharemarket has eased for the second consecutive trading day, with the All Ordinaries Index slipping by 0.8 per cent.

The Australian sharemarket is losing ground despite a stronger open. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down by 0.8 per cent, with just the energy players managing to remain slightly firmer.

With 21 trading days remaining in the calendar year, 2013 is looking like being the strongest year in terms of fund inflows since 2006, and could be the biggest market gain since 2009. With dividend returns hitting the books in ten days, it is highly possible that the ASX will finish the year positively.

In US economic news, foreign central bank holdings of US debt rose by $11.763 billion to $3.35 trillion in the latest week.

BlackBerry's start to rise following the release of the BBM app for iPhones and Android devices that got the embattled Canadian phone makers 20 million downloads on the first week of release may be a short-lived spark of hope.

The prolonged legal battle among the Rineharts, Australia's richest family, took an uglier turn as Ginia, the youngest daughter who is the only child of billionaire and mining magnate Gina Rinehart, dug up and exposed her older sister's previous eating disorder.

Australia is the new chair of the Group of 20 (G20), and the Australian city of Brisbane will host the next G20 summit to be held Nov 15 to 16, 2014.

Despite a modest improvement from the lows hit at midday, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) still finished in the red by 0.25 per cent. The miners struggled this week; however a modest 0.5 per cent rise within the sector helped minimise the broader losses somewhat. The Aussie market slumped by 2% in November (only month of losses since June)

First, there was the smartphone then the smartglass and smartwatch. Now, Sony is developing a smartwig that could help the wearer navigate roads, monitor blood pressure or flip through slides in a presentation.

The Australian sharemarket is slipping for just the second time this week in light trade due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US last night. The miners have been underperformers this week (down 1 per cent while the broader market is down by around 0.5 per cent) however are the sole improvers at lunch.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate described the graffiti made by Canadian singer Justin Bieber at a hotel's wall as an eyesore, and he wants it removed. The move to have the graffiti erased is part of the city's war on vandalism.

In a bid to reduce Indonesia's anger at Australia over the spying row, Australian Defence Minister David Johnston announced that Canberra will give an old C-130 Hercules plane to Jakarta.

With the US markets closing early for Thanksgiving and another indifferent night in Europe (except for the DAX which made another all-time high) leads in the Asian region are few and far between.

In European economic news, German flash CPI inflation jumped from 1.2pct to 1.6pct in November. The numbers suggest that Eurozone CPI inflation will also bounce significantly tomorrow. Eurozone confidence surveys improved further in November. The economic confidence reading rose to 98.5, the business climate indicator, services and industrial confidence readings all improved. All are indicative of ongoing gradual recovery in the economy.

Along with the close of the year 2013 is the end of the age of crisis, Japanese investment bank Nomura said in its yearend report and forecast for the global economy for 2014.

Local stocks are trading higher at lunchtime in the East, following yet another record high on Wall Street overnight. The US Dow Jones Index rose by 0.2 per cent to a new record, while the NASDAQ closed at a fresh 13 year high.

ANZ Bank will use voice recognition technology in the future for authorization of large cash transfers to external accounts, using mobile banking. ANZ said the shift will enhance security.

After positive overnight data, consumer confidence is still low.

In US economic news, durables goods orders fell by 2.0pct in October on the back of aircraft orders. The ex-transportation reading fell by a more modest 0.1pct. The final Michigan confidence reading edged up from 72.0 to 75.1 in November. The Chicago PMI dipped from 65.9 to 63.0. US jobless claims fell by a larger than expected 10,000 to 316,000 last week and raised expectations for a strong November payrolls number.