AAP

Wesfarmers is on track for first-half earnings that meet investor expectations despite Kmart and Target struggling from coronavirus impacts.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says taxation will be a clear battleline between the coalition and Labor at the upcoming federal election.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has cancelled the visa of world No.1 tennis player Novak Djokovic days out from the Australian Open.

Shares had their biggest loss in more than a week as a US technology crash spilled over into the Australian market.

Australia's peak union body has called a crisis meeting after the prime minister's "failure" to protect workers and community safety by making rapid antigen tests free.

Iron ore miners have benefited from production challenges in Brazil and ensured ASX investors are ahead for the week with one trading day remaining.

A broad-based rally on the ASX could be forgotten within hours as Wall Street investors brace for figures which one analyst tipped will show peak inflation.

The federal government has flagged filling gaps in essential service roles with temporary visa holders, older Australians and the unemployed.

Supermarkets and chicken suppliers were among the shares ditched on the ASX as the latest coronavirus wave poses a serious challenge to earnings.

Retail sales soared by 7.3 per cent in November after last year's easing of COVID-19 restrictions, but there are signs the subsequent emergence of the Omicron variant has since curbed spending.

Consumer confidence has fallen across Australia as a result of the rapid spread of the Omicron strain of COVID-19, potentially dampening the outlook for retail spending.

Commodity-based shares proved a saving grace for ASX investors after they offset an Australian market mostly weighed by US rate rise worries.

The federal government is working to ease pressure on supply chains amid spiking Omicron cases as stock is thinning out on supermarket shelves.

A second broad-based rally helped the ASX close the first week of 2022 slightly ahead, although the prospect of earlier rate hikes remains a worry for investors.

Woolworths Group has withdrawn its bid for Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API), leaving Wesfarmers as the only suitor for the Priceline Pharmacy owner.

Australian shares had their biggest one-day fall since September 2020 as investors panicked about interest rates rising sooner than expected.

Australia and Japan are set to ink a security treaty that Prime Minister Scott Morrison describes as "historic" during a virtual summit with his Japanese counterpart.

Investors tempered their new year enthusiasm and lowered the ASX on the second day of 2022 trade as the latest wave of coronavirus infections dominated the economic agenda in many countries.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has challenged the prime minister to make rapid antigen tests free, backing calls for them to be available for all Australians.

The Australian share market has climbed to its highest level in more than four months as investors looked past surging local coronavirus cases to track gains on the US bourses.

Australia has passed the grim milestone of more than 500,000 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began.

Five new local COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Western Australia, with hundreds now being forced to isolate after potential exposures at an event.

The Australian share market has held on to steady gains despite a surge in local coronavirus cases, with investors focusing on reports about the raging Omicron variant being less severe than previous variants.

New daily COVID-19 infections have again skyrocketed across Australia's two most populous states as calls grow for booster shots to be sped up.

Investors rushed for technology shares on a mixed Australian market, but an analyst warned of big changes facing tech investors.

Rio Tinto has signed a deal to buy the Rincon lithium project in Argentina for $US825 million ($A1.2 billion) as majors eye a supply crunch later this decade.

Woodside has signed with Asian partners to develop a long-term supply chain of sustainable hydrogen from Western Australia to Singapore and potentially Japan.

Western Australia's health system is set to come under extraordinary pressure when interstate borders reopen, even without a surge in local COVID-19 hospitalisations, doctors have warned.

Investors enjoyed their best day on the ASX in almost two weeks as the Reserve Bank gave no hint of imminent rate rises and buyers returned for CSL shares.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will discuss with premiers and chief ministers time frames for booster shots and masks mandates to curb COVID-19's spread.

Investors found few gifts on the Australian market at the start of Christmas week as the prospect of reintroducing virus restrictions weighed on energy and bank shares.

Australia has struck a deal to increase the local manufacturing of urea amid a global shortage, but Western Roads has expressed concerns that WA could be left out.