AAP

Chinese demand for Australian commodities - not interest rate cuts - will determine whether the budget is in surplus in 2012/13, a leading budget forecaster says.

US stocks closed mixed after a day of bumpy trade, with the Nasdaq gaining ground while the Dow blue chips bowed to selling pressure.

African countries are looking to Western Australia's "state agreements" regime as a model for fostering big resources sector developments.

The Australian dollar has dropped to a three-week low after the central bank surprised economists with an interest rate cut.

Australia's big four banks are facing mounting pressure to slash their interest rates after the central bank delivered its fifth cash rate cut in 12 months.

Three companies that were part of the collapsed engineering conglomerate Hastie Group have been sold in a management buy-out for an undisclosed sum.

The Australian share market finished one per cent higher as investors piled into equities after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut the cash rate by a quarter of a percentage point.

Qantas Airways has bulked up its freight operations by taking full ownership of Australian Air Express and selling road freight business StarTrack Express.

Recent interest rate cuts have helped house prices in Australia's capital cities post their strongest monthly gains in more than two years.

Borrowers will be raising their glasses to the Reserve Bank of Australia after the central bank delivered its fifth interest rate cut in 12 months.

Central Petroleum shares have risen more than 11 per cent after the company announced a $150 million joint venture with oil and gas producer Santos.

Rallies will be held around the nation this weekend to protest against animal cruelty and the live export trade, following reports that Australian sheep were inhumanely slaughtered in Pakistan.

Business trading conditions have hit the weakest level in 14 years, prompting calls for 50 basis points worth of interest rate cuts before Christmas.

Qantas will have to pay the tax office $34 million in GST it collected from passengers who booked tickets but then didn't turn up for their flights.

The Australian share market has opened higher after gains on overseas markets.

Fortescue Metals has welcomed its High Court victory against the corporate regulator, calling the long-running case an expensive distraction.

Fortescue Metals Group has commissioned a second ore processing facility at its Christmas Creek iron ore mine in the Pilbara.

US stocks opened the fourth quarter on Monday with a solid jump propelled by an unexpected positive reading on manufacturing sector activity in September.

Global miner Xstrata will cut 150 jobs from a Western Australian nickel mine to go with the 600 Australian coal job cuts announced earlier this month.

The Australian dollar is higher, on improved sentiment, and ahead of a meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia board next week.

Harvey Norman chairman Gerry Harvey took a $115,000 pay cut in the 2011/12 financial year after the retailer's profits plunged 32 per cent.

Australian government agencies are failing to enforce standards designed to ensure kangaroos are humanely killed, a report says.

The Business Council of Australia has joined a growing number of industry groups concerned that the federal government may tweak existing concessions to pay for a cut in the corporate tax rate.

Australian shares closed down for the week and had a almost flat day, with investors cautious after the Spanish government unveiled budget plans to slash its deficit.

The builder of the $37.4-billion national broadband network has committed to freezing the prices of its consumer and business products for five years.

ANZ has been fined $US350,000 ($A336,619) by commodity regulators in the United States over its handling of wheat and cotton futures contracts.

Woolworths non-executive director and World Cup cricket organiser Ralph Waters has been elevated to the chairman's job after the surprise resignation of James Strong.

The head of the former Centro Properties Group was paid $3 million in the final five months of the shopping centre owner's operation.

Quickstep has won a $US12 million ($A11.5 million) deal to manufacture carbon fibre wing flaps for Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules aircraft.

Homeowners can bank on at least one interest rate cut by the end of the year, and it's possible it could come on Tuesday.

Green mining technologies such as carbon capture will be a major industry in the future, Rio Tinto's Australian coal boss says.

Shares in Sundance Resources have been placed in a trading halt ahead of an expected announcement from its Chinese suitor Hanlong Mining.