The Australian dollar looks set to break through US90c by the end of the year after punching above US87c for the first time in a month. It touched US87.14c yesterday during local trading before finishing the session at US86.76c, up from Thursday’s close of US86.04c. It has risen about 7 per ce... Read More

The price of gold could reach $US1450 an ounce by the end of the year after surging to a record high early yesterday, an economist says. The precious metal settled at $US1248.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, up $US18.20, and nudged $US1248 in spot trade in Sydne... Read More

Seven weeks into the top job, newly-installed chief executive Peter Boyd said he hopes that the water products business will improve its performance this year after changing its IT, management and inventory control systems. He warned that any turnaround will be a “longer term story” and ... Read More

Higher demand for the raw material needed to feed steel industry growth in Brazil, India and China, coupled with delays in new supply projects, means prices will remain high for at least the next two years, Michael Dixon, new business development manager of Sydney-based AME Mineral Economics, said a... Read More

In a note to clients this morning, Citi said its worst case scenarios for both elements would impact its discount to cash flow (DCF) valuation less than the market’s reaction and reiterated its buy recommendation with a $50 target. “Combining our worst-case scenarios for both elements would impa... Read More

The move is part of an effort to accelerate the internationalisation of the Chinese currency. Trade deals by companies in China have typically been done in US dollars or other foreign currencies. The yuan-settlement program, started last July, allowed companies in Shanghai and the southern province ... Read More

Investment company Guinness Peat Group said today it intends to spin off its Australian business and list it separately on the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges as GPG Group Australia. The demerged entity will have net asset value of about $450 million, while Guinness Peat Group will retain... Read More

Mining giants have complained after a meeting in Canberra today that their demands on tax are still not being acknowledged by the government – even as Kevin Rudd confirms he is considering requests for special treatment from different resources sectors. BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata met ... Read More

Rio Tinto renewed its attack today on the Australian government’s planned mining tax, which it says is divorced from commercial reality, penalised efficient operations and would slow investment and cost jobs. In a letter to shareholders, Chairman Jan du Plessis said the company supported tax r... Read More

The Australian sharemarket closed firmly in the black with small-to-medium cap resources stocks leading the charge, as investor concern about the proposed tax regime on miners took a back seat for the day. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 54 points, or 1.2 per cent, at 4559 points, while ... Read More

Congressional investigators say documents uncovered as part of their inquiry into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill have raised “serious questions about the decisions made by BP in the days and hours before the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon” drilling rig. In a letter sent to BP chief ex... Read More

Aquila Resources says it is engaged in a dispute with its joint venture partner Vale over the proposed budget for the pair’s Eagle Downs hard coking coal project. The disagreement heightens tensions between the two companies, which are already squaring off over the price Brazil’s Vale should... Read More

The Reserve Bank of Australia said today it has the flexibility to keep interest rates on hold for now, giving it time to assess the global impact of the European sovereign debt crisis while also awaiting domestic second quarter inflation data at the end of July. The RBA judged that its six rate hik... Read More

Australia’s biggest private employer and owner of Coles, Wesfarmers, has written to its 500,000 shareholders warning that their dividends could be threatened by the Rudd government’s proposed resource super-profits tax. In the letter, Wesfarmers chairman Bob Every said the conglomerateâ... Read More

Qantas mainline international operations are growing again after hitting historic lows during the global financial crisis, but chief executive Alan Joyce has warned he cannot guarantee the airline will maintain its overall market share to and from Australia. The Qantas share on international markets... Read More

ANZ Bank is aiming to ride the China boom and double its northeast Asian revenue from $US667 million ($784m) over the next few years as its institutional business targets multinationals and China’s state-owned enterprises. In an upbeat presentation in Shanghai, ANZ’s northeast Asia, Euro... Read More