AAP

Australia will host an inaugural Australia-Hong Kong trade and investment dialogue to pursue greater international use of the Chinese currency, federal Treasurer Wayne Swan says.

BHP Billiton is generating weaker cash flow than expected but Standard & Poor's has let it off the credit rating hook.

The Australian share market finished lower due to falls in the resources sector.

Woodside Petroleum's $40 billion Browse gas project looks less likely to go ahead despite the re-election of its biggest supporter, Premier Colin Barnett.

The head of Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation has been forced to quit after 12 years in the job due to illness.

Fears that a ballot box was stolen with a car in the knife-edge electorate of Midland have proven baseless.

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan said the government intends to keep to its promise of getting debt below $250 billion by the end of the 2012/13 financial year.

Business hiring intentions are subdued due to conflicting economic messages and uncertainty over the outcome of the upcoming federal election, a survey says.

The federal government will overhaul the way complaints against the press are handled and ensure there is no further reduction in media diversity.

Gold miner Ramelius Resources has begun mining at its Western Queen South project in a bid to boost production to 100,000 ounces a year.

Greens Senator Scott Ludlam admits he's in strife if weekend state election results carry over to the federal election in September.

A full-time job does not guarantee access to housing, according to a report on housing affordability.

Gina Rinehart's daughter Hope Welker has formally withdrawn from the Supreme Court civil action she took with two of her siblings against her mother.

The Australian share market has opened slightly stronger after US markets continued to climb to new highs.

 The Australian dollar is more than half a US cent higher following gains on the New York stock market.

US stocks brushed off an early move toward a correction and added to the bull run, with the Dow setting a fresh record for the fifth straight day.

The Australian dollar has closed lower, drifting back towards 102 US cents as global markets poured back into the US dollar after a positive US jobs report.

Mark Bouris' TZ Limited has struck a deal to install lockers in petrol stations and convenience stores in a bid to capitalise on the online retailing boom.

The Australian share market finished more than 0.4 per cent higher following a wave of investor enthusiasm in Japan and the US.

The Reserve Bank of Australia's computer systems have fallen victim to cyber hacking in at least two highly sophisticated online attacks.

CSR shares are down as the building products company prepares to cut about 150 staff.

Leighton subsidiary Thiess has won a new contract, worth $212 million, for work on Chevron's $52 billion Gorgon project in Western Australia.

The Australian share market has opened relatively flat as investors weigh up encouraging jobs data from the United States against disappointing economic figures from China.

Labor faces an absolute massacre in the September federal election if it doesn't respond to voter dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Julia Gillard, a former state Labor MP says.

Australia's biggest resources companies will continue to enjoy the support of a conservative state government, industry commentators say.

The head of Australian poultry producer Ingham has agreed to sell the 95-year-old family business to US-based private equity group TPG Capital.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average set a fresh record for the fourth straight session on Friday helped by solid jobs data that was nonetheless seen unlikely to move the Fed to tighten monetary policy

The Australian dollar is almost unchanged ahead of the release of key US employment data.

The world's largest sandalwood plantation owner and manager, TFS Corporation, has teamed up with investment firm Hamilton Securities in pursuit of the sandalwood assets of agribusiness Elders.

The Australian share market closed higher, boosted by mining stocks after the release of a bumper trade report in China.

Australian firms are unlikely to get any relief from the relentless strength of the local dollar any time soon, particularly if overseas central banks keep pursuing policies that deflate their own