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Qantas Group says it made $1.25 billion in profit in 2023/24, down 28 per cent from last year, but its on-time performance and customer approval levels rose.

US stocks have closed lower as the values of shares in major technology companies slipped.

The ASX200 finished 0.2 points higher after being down as many as 62 points in morning trading, while the Australian dollar briefly traded over 68 US cents.

Mass media company Nine Entertainment has had full year profits fall by almost a third to $134.9 million.

The ASX200 has fallen 0.2 per cent as BHP, Woodside, Coles, Johns Lyng Group, Lovisa and others report earnings.

Coles has posted an annual net profit of $1.1 billion and says online supermarket sales made up 9.4 per cent of all sales in the 2023/24 year.

The ASX200 has climbed 0.8 per cent as the local currency neared 68 US cents after Fed chairman Jerome Powell declared "the time had come" for US rate cuts.

Endeavour Group says sales were up in 2023/24 but its profit dropped 3.2 per cent to $512 million as it paid more to service its $1.9 billion debt.

The ASX200 has finished three points lower, just enough to snap its longest winning streak since early-2015.

The ASX200 rose 0.2 per cent after Federal Reserve minutes all but confirmed the US central bank will cut rates in September.

After being down as much as 0.5 per cent in morning trading, the ASX200 gained steadily in the afternoon to finish slightly in the green and above 8,000.

Brittany Higgins felt toxic and told the journalist who broke the story about her alleged rape in Parliament House that Senator Linda Reynolds hated her.

Former federal minister Marise Payne has told a court about her concerns for Linda Reynolds and Brittany Higgins after the latter's alleged rape in parliament.

The local share market rose 0.2 per cent to equal its longest winning streak of the year, but shied away from closing above 8,000.

US stocks have closed higher as investors look ahead to Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole.

Brittany Higgins will not testify to defend herself at a defamation trial brought against her by former boss, Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds.

The ASX200 finished up 0.1 per cent, as gains by the big banks and goldminers outweighed losses by the big iron ore miners, a2 Milk and Reece.

US stocks have closed higher as investors reacted to the release of homebuilding data in the country last month.

The ASX200 has gained 1.3 per cent on Friday to finish the week 2.5 per cent higher, its best weekly performance since December.

A Tasmanian senator has recalled how Senator Linda Reynolds was aggressively targeted in parliament during "heartless attacks".

The head of Australia's corporate watchdog says in the past financial year a record number of businesses have been placed into administration.

Financial markets are betting on a rate cut before the end of the year, but Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock has told parliament that would be too soon.

The ASX200 rose 0.2 per cent, despite a mixed labour market report that could keep domestic interest rates on hold through 2024.

A senior staffer of Linda Reynolds has told a defamation trial the senator and her then chief of staff disagreed on how to handle claims by Brittany Higgins.

US stocks have closed mostly higher as investors digested data related to consumer prices from July.

The ASX200 has finished up 0.3 per cent as Commonwealth Bank, Pro Medicus, Evolution Mining, Seven Group and other big companies report earnings.

Senator Linda Reynolds' chief of staff when Brittany Higgins was allegedly raped in parliament may not be able to give evidence to the politician's high-profile defamation trial with her former staffer.

The ASX200 has finished higher, with losses for CSL and Seek and gains for Temple & Webster and goldminers.

An earnings report by JB Hi-Fi bolstered the consumer discretionary sector, with the ASX200 finishing 0.5 per cent higher.

Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds believed Bruce Lehrmann's rape trial was politically motivated and Peter Dutton undermined her, a psychologist's notes read to a defamation trial have revealed.

All three major indexes gain for the day; Expedia rises after Q2 profit beat; Indexes: Dow up 0.1 per cent, S&P 500 up 0.5 per cent, Nasdaq up 0.5 per cent.

The ASX has rallied on a better-than-expected drop in US jobless claims but has finished the week down 2.1 per cent after Monday's big sell-off.