AAP

The share market has fallen nearly 2 per cent, with a rapidly rising Australian dollar and profit taking by Japan-based foreign investors believed to be responsible.

Fortescue Metals Group is believed to have made another round of redundancies today, mainly affecting workers at its Cloudbreak mine in the Pilbara.

Kerry Stokes' Seven West Media is tapping investors for up to $612 million to help it reduce its $1 billion pile of debt.

Supermarket giant Coles has posted strong growth in the March quarter despite its fierce discounting war with Woolworths.

An environment lobby group believes the federal government can save billions of dollars by scrapping diesel fuel tax credits for some of Australia's biggest polluters.

The Australian share market has opened lower.

Gold has risen one per cent after disappointing US data hit the greenback and dampened expectations that the Federal Reserve will hint at this week's policy meeting at an interest rate rise in coming months.

The Australian dollar has surged past the US 80 cent mark on the back of weak US economic data and concerns about the Federal Reserve meeting.

US stocks have finished mostly higher but Apple's sell-off left the Nasdaq in the red and NYSE-traded Twitter's unintentional early earnings release held back overall gains.

Crude oil prices have traded mixed amid reports that Iran had seized a cargo ship in Iranian territorial waters in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key oil transit route.

A Rio Tinto subsidiary has admitted failing to provide a safe working environment after the death of an employee at a Western Australian mine.

The share market has fallen further away from the key 6,000-point level as a recovery in commodity prices failed to boost the big miners.

The Australian share market has opened lower.

People leaving the workforce now have got it much tougher than those who left a decade ago and will need to take a lot more risk in order to fund their retirement, the head of the Reserve Bank says.

The Australian dollar has risen amid softer-than-expected US economic data in the lead-up to this week's US Federal Reserve meeting.

Gold has jumped more than two per cent - to be back above $1,200 an ounce.

US stocks have snapped a three-day rally to record highs as investors awaited Apple earnings results and a Federal Reserve policy meeting.

World oil prices have traded narrowly mixed as traders assessed escalating violence in Yemen and the prospect of another rise in US crude inventories.

The Australian sharemarket ended the week strongly, with gains on the back of a rally in iron ore prices from decade lows.

Mount Gibson Iron has cut 20 per cent of its staff in the past quarter as it focuses on reducing costs and preserving cash to combat weak iron ore prices.

Like ships passing in the night, Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey haven't seen a lot of each other recently.

Production has declined at uranium player Paladin Energy's biggest mine after a well failed, but the company is upbeat about the prospects of exports to Japan and India.

Loss making mining services contractor Macmahon Holdings will cut another 40 staff and alter its corporate rosters to cut costs.

The state education minister has denied the opposition's claims classrooms will suffer as a result of job cuts at public schools.

The Australian share market has opened higher, following gain on Wall Street overnight.

The Australian dollar is higher after the release of some disappointing US economic data.

Gold rose from a three-week low on Thursday, following its biggest drop in over a month on Wednesday, as the dollar retreated on weaker-than-expected US economic data.

The Nasdaq exchange has smashed its 15-year-old record, breaking through the old mark set at the peak of the dot-com boom in 2000.

Global oil prices have advanced as the Saudi Arabia-led coalition renews airstrikes in Yemen, stoking new supply concerns about the crude-rich Middle East.

The Australian share market has closed higher as gains among the big miners offset losses in the financial sector.

Fortescue Metals Group shares surged today after it surprised the market by completing a $US2.3 billion ($A2.9 billion) debt refinancing, while also benefiting from a much-needed lift in iron ore prices.

Sandfire Resources shares moved higher after the copper and gold producer increased production at its DeGrussa mine.