Australia Financial News

In a major milestone for the electronic conveyancing market, the first property transactions have been settled using both of the competing electronic lodgment network operators, Property Exchange Australia (PEXA) and Sympli.

General counsel at Australia’s largest companies are “falling behind” on risk as skills shortages, a lack of influence and increasing workloads leave big business exposed, a new report warns.

dollar was broadly steady on Wednesday ahead of a key U.S. inflation report later in the day, though it rose on the yen as traders assessed comments from Japan's top central banker on a possible early exit from its negative interest rate policy. The U.S.

Viva Energy shares have collapsed nearly 10 per cent this week, after Dutch oil trading giant Vitol sold a 16 per cent stake in the Australian company which supplies a quarter of the nation’s fuel.

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas says it is a “disappointing state of play” that Qantas has not operated international flights out of Adelaide for 10 years, and to uphold its status as a national carrier it should reinstate them.

Stockbroker Ord Minnett’s head of natural resources, Richard Saywell, is packing his bags for a rival.

The bid price for Origin Energy from its North American suitors needs to be boosted towards $10 a share or higher to reflect the big lift in the takeover target’s business since it was agreed, Macquarie has told clients.

inflation data on Wednesday, while an oil price spike stoked anxiety about persistent price pressures, complicating the interest rate outlook. The euro edged higher and markets moved to favour a hike from Europe's central bank on Thursday, following a Reuters report that the European Central Bank (ECB) expects inflation will stay above 3% next year in its updated forecasts, well above its target of 2%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat while Tokyo's Nikkei eased 0.2%. Australia's resource-heavy shares lost 0.7%, Chinese blue-chips were flat but Hong Kong's Hang Seng index moved 0.6% higher. At the forefront of markets' minds is the crucial U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) report expected on Wednesday, which should shed further light on the inflation outlook and provide some clarity about whether the Federal Reserve is done tightening. While core CPI is seen cooling to 4.3% year-on-year in August from 4.7%, rising energy costs are forecast to keep headline inflation hot.

«Overall, we expect the focus to shift from mid and small caps to large caps in the near term, as investors may turn cautious on the broader market,» said Siddhartha Khemka, Head — Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Here's breaking down the pre-market actions:STATE OF THE MARKETSGIFT Nifty (Earlier SGX Nifty) signals a positive startGIFT Nifty on the NSE IX traded 43.5 points, or 0.22 per cent, at 20,073.50, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for positive start on Wednesday.

Brand and automation software start-up Sesimi is looking for a strategic investor to join its shareholder register, telling potential backers to think of gross margins higher than 90 per cent from serving clients like Toyota, American Express and Cricket Australia.

Stanmore Resources is fronting lenders once again as it hunts for nearly $1.25 billion in debt to bankroll its bid for BHP’s up-for-grabs Blackwater and Daunia mines in Queensland.

Qantas has lost its battle to overturn a Federal Court ruling that it illegally sacked nearly 1700 workers during the pandemic, with the full bench of the High Court dismissing its appeal.

Endeavour Energy is on the cusp of deploying a “self-healing” function that will allow its technicians to restore power to most customers within 70 seconds without having to visit the site physically.

Crackerjack Foods, a privately owned Melbourne manufacturer of potato cakes, has been bought out by US french fries giant Lamb Weston, which is backing the potato cakes and hash browns market to grow strongly as Australians demonstrate a preference for pub dining over restaurants.

The High Court of Australia will on Wednesday morning decide whether Qantas illegally sacked nearly 1700 ground staff during the pandemic. Employers across the country will be watching the ruling closely.

Insurance customers want more frequent and clearer outlines about how their damage claims are progressing and timelines for conducting repairs, the industry’s association has admitted.

Oil trading giant Vitol launched a $714 million block trade in Viva Energy – worth 16.1 per cent of the company – after market close on Tuesday evening, as revealed by Street Talk.

The United States exported more liquefied natural gas (LNG) than any other country in the first half of 2023 (1H23), according to data from CEDIGAZ, amid strong global demand particularly from Europe.

red fire ants, one of the most invasive species on the earth and the fifth most expensive to combat, have reached Europe. With the scientific name of Solenopsis invicta, the red ants have their origin in South America. Their sting is ‘painful and irritating' and can cause pustules and allergic reactions. The stings can trigger potentially deadly anaphylactic shock.

trade deal, namely the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), considered the world’s largest free trade bloc, covering around 30% of the world’s population, gross domestic product (GDP) and trade. The RCEP came into full force on 2 June.

More than one-third of Australian businesses are struggling to achieve their carbon emission reduction targets, according to a new survey.