Business News

With the recent oil price highs comes consequences... Higher Prices for Airline Tickets

BSX Services, a member of the NSX Group (NSX), has setup a Victorian taxi licence trading market. (BSX incorporates the stock exchange of Newcastle and the Bendigo Stock Exchange.) Trading rules have been written by BSX in conjunction with the Victorian government. But is there a need for another market exchange in Australia? Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE) and Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) are both merging, so is there room for the NSX for growth? Or will they become a NASDAQ - a specialist exchange? We shall see...

McGuigan Simeon, Australia's second largest wine producer has warned that this years grape harvest may be another record crop. It may be good news for the primary growers but some wine makers are still hurting from last year's record crop. McGuigan Simeon's managing director say that "There's a possibility of that, although [the hot weather] hasn't been sustained in the last week - the weather has been temperate," Brian McGuigan said. "Nevertheless, there's a huge crop this year. There's no doubt it's ripening earlier than it has been previously."

This may be yesterdays news but its nice to keep a record of news reports that really influence huge shifts in market mood and opinion. What happened in Japan a few days ago is one example of how market sentiment can heavily sway market price. Keep this reference in mind when you trade!

Capitalist Pirates in Shanghai China - think carefully before launching a production factory campaign in China: Terry Petty and his Chinese representatives thought the terms were ridiculous. So starts the capitalist pirate story...

An American investor, Petty had forged a venture with the son of a local Communist Party official to open a machine shop here in the industrial outskirts of China's most cosmopolitan city.

But after two years of internal disputes, the venture had disintegrated. The local man was urging Petty's people to sign a contract selling him their stake and surrendering full control. They would not go along.

But even as the negotiations proceeded on this September afternoon, the local partner was mobilising to seize the factory: a team of 15 men - many with shaved heads and dressed in black - arrived at the plant, according to managers. They told the workers that they were now in charge and ordered production to cease.

Media and gambling magnate Kerry Packer was making more than $1 million a day in profits in the final year of his life, corporate documents show.

Kerry Packer earned $393 million in the past financial year in profits from private investments in property, plastics, chemicals and cattle, according to financial statements filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

The figures, published in newspaper reports, show the 68-year-old Packer made an average $7.8 million a week in the past year, largely underpinned by some 258 million PBL shares.

Instead of receiving paper copies for your PDS, reporting and other communication material, using this environmental initiative, you will receive an electronic PDF version of that communication - saving paper and saving the environment. To help out the environment while share trading you are able to sign up to this program through their website.

Australia's third richest man, Richard Pratt, colluded in a cardboard cartel that could cost him up to $427 million in penalties, documents submitted to the Federal Court say.

The billionaire philanthropist and doyen of entrepreneurial Australia was named yesterday in a statement of claims lodged by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The document alleges 14 separate incidents of cartel behaviour, including price-fixing, between Mr Pratt's Visy cardboard empire and its business rival, Amcor.

Dame Anita Roddick, the founder of the Body Shop and one of Britain's best-known businesswomen, has decided to turn her back on the world of commerce and give away her £51 million ($120 million) fortune.

Dame Anita and her husband, Gordon, founded the 300-strong chain of shops in 1976. Now the pair are its biggest shareholders, holding 18 per cent of the shares, worth £100 million. However, she said she wanted to cash in her 20 million shares and give the proceeds away.

Australia's regional banks outperformed the big four this year as they expanded their branch networks beyond traditional geographic areas.

The six main regional banks - Adelaide Bank, Bank of Queensland, Bendigo Bank, Elders Rural Bank, St George and Suncorp - grew faster than the majors in nearly every key measure, according to a survey by accounting firm KPMG.

That is despite intensifying competition, especially over savings accounts, as well as the slowing housing market.