AAP

Wesfarmers chief executive Richard Goyder is hopeful the conglomerate will seek out new acquisitions offshore in the years ahead.

Australian shares finished slightly higher on Tuesday, stemming the market's five-day run of losses.

Qantas has announced a raft of upgrades and additional flights at Perth Airport, taking its total investment in Perth over the past four years to more than $100 million.

Australian shares have opened stronger as investors look to whether the United States will alter its massive economic stimulus program.

Australia would miss out on a once-in-a-generation liquefied natural gas boom unless it reduced costs by up to 30 per cent, says a new report.

The Australian dollar is almost unchanged after a night of quiet trade due to holidays in the United States and Britain.

Europe's stock markets closed on a positive note on Monday as market watchers said investors focused on profit-taking as both the London and New York markets were closed for holidays.

Property owner and manager GPT Group has dropped its $3 billion bid for Australand's commercial and industrial assets.

The Australian dollar has closed below US97 cents for the third straight session as traders continue flocking to the greenback.

Australian stocks closed lower on Monday, adding to a string of losses notched up last week.

The head of global energy giant Shell says rising costs are a challenge for doing business in Australia.

Excessive wage demands are threatening major energy projects in Australia, a federal Labor minister says.

Australia faces a hiatus in new liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects as buyers switch their focus to the United States.

Australia's oil and gas industry has defended its contribution to the economy, saying it will deliver $13 billion a year in taxes by the end of the decade.

Business leaders in Western Australia say there should be no rise in the state's minimum wage this year, with the WA Industrial Relations Commission set to hear the state wage case this week.

Live animal exports would be banned by 2017 under a private bill introduced by federal independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who says the industry has run out of "last chances".

David Jones says weak consumer sentiment and an unseasonably warm start to winter contributed to a 2.2 per cent fall in third quarter sales.

Australian stocks have opened weaker, with David Jones among the worst performers after the department store chain posted a decline in third quarter sales.

Perth's public transport network will undergo the biggest disruptions in its history when lines shutdown to allow work to be done on the Perth City Link project.

The Australian dollar has continued to fall due to investor caution and falls in commodity prices.

The 7.3 per cent plunge in Japanese stocks during last week injected needed sobriety into US markets, but they showed a resilience that cheered investors worried about protecting the year's gains.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard is resisting pressure from unions and Labor MPs to raise tariffs or significantly boost industry assistance after Ford's decision to stop making cars in Australia.

Australia's domestic flights were a little roomier for the travelling public in March, with the growth in passenger numbers failing to match the extra seats added into the market.

The Australian dollar has finished the day higher, despite falling back from its earlier highs amid uncertainty about the future of the US Federal Reserve's stimulus program.

The Australian stock market has tumbled to a five-week low, with $26 billion wiped from the value of the bourse.

 Both major Western Australian political parties fear Shell's Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) project will trigger a departure from onshore processing, slashing state royalties an

The federal government needs to restore consumer confidence by securing jobs and ensuring less red tape, says Australia's peak retail group.

Australian shares are a little weaker as the market follows Wall street into negative territory.

Gold futures have snapped to a one-week high as a slump in global equities markets and the US dollar drew investors in search of a refuge to the precious metal.

US stocks have finished slightly lower, little-affected by a sharp selloff in Asian and European markets led by the 7.3 per cent plunge of Japan's Nikkei 225 index.

The Australian dollar has surged more than one-and-a-half US cents higher from Thursday's low point, as the US dollar lost ground against all the major currencies.

The Australian dollar has fallen to its lowest level in almost a year following further gains in its US counterpart and disappointing Chinese manufacturing figures.