AAP

Resources giant BHP Billiton says it will spend billions of dollars ramping up shale gas production in the United States this decade.

Fertiliser and explosives maker Incitec Pivot has increased full year profit 13 per cent and says 2012 will be a transition year as it seeks to expand the Asia-Pacific explosives business.

The majority of Australian women reaching retirement have no superannuation savings behind them, the Minister for Employment Participation says.

Elders has posted a $395.4 million annual loss but said its underlying performance had improved and forecast an improved performance for the current fiscal year.

Petrol prices have fallen to a 10-week low and one economist is tipping cheaper fuel in the weeks ahead.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard is pleased with an APEC leaders' agreement to slash the region's energy intensity and cut tariffs on environmental products.

Uranium miner Paladin Energy has posted a much bigger net loss for the September quarter than a year earlier after booking an impairment charge for its Kayelekera mine in Malawi.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce is hopeful the airline will reach contract agreements with workers by next Monday's deadline.

New cost-of-living data shows this is not the time to be imposing new taxes on households, federal opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey says.

DuluxGroup predicts it will be more profitable in fiscal 2012 after shrugging off challenging conditions to increase its 2011 full year profit by more than 50 per cent.

Total personal finance commitments fell 2.5 per cent in September to $6.986 billion, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows.

Rail operator QR National has signed a deal with Wesfarmers to haul up to 1.5 million tonnes of coal each year from its Curragh mine in Queensland to port.

Australian stocks gained as changes of leadership in Italy and Greece stoked optimism that Europe's debt crisis would be addressed.

US President Barack Obama has opened a summit of 21 Pacific Rim economies, including Australia, urging the region to work for quicker, more sturdy and more sustainable economic growth.

The Australian dollar is more than one US cent higher as optimism grows that the Italian government will avoid financial disaster.

US blue chip stocks have turned in a solid gain on the back of good earnings reports to rack up a positive week, but feeble tech stocks left the Nasdaq with its second weekly loss in a row.

Wesfarmers has hit back at critics worried that its Coles supermarkets are abusing market power by squeezing suppliers.

Leighton Holdings has reaffirmed it will return to profitability this financial year with a profit of a much as $650 million as it tenders for $27 billion worth of work.

Australian interest rates could be cut again as early as next month amid new warnings that Europe faces tipping into recession.

Australian shares closed firmly higher on positive offshore leads and short-covering ahead of the weekend.

A spike in recent insolvencies in Australia shows that fallout from the global financial crisis (GFC) is continuing, liquidation firm Dissolve says.

Outgoing Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ralph Norris remains the country's highest paid banker, despite a rise in remuneration for Westpac's Gail Kelly.

Carbon forest sink company Carbon Conscious will plant about 10 million native Mallee eucalypt trees the Wheatbelt next year, after Origin Energy exercised about $30 million worth of planting optio

Striking phosphate miners on Western Australia's remote Christmas Island are threatening to turn the tables on their employer by closing the mine and buying it back.

Treasurer Wayne Swan has urged his Asia-Pacific counterparts to waste no time implementing economic reforms necessary to prevent the sort of turbulence that has gripped Europe.

China's Guangdong Nuclear Power Co has reduced its take-over offer for London-listed Kalarahi Minerals, the major shareholder of Extract Resources.

The Australian stock market opened higher, after markets in the United States rebounded on positive developments in the debt-ridden Eurozone.

US stocks rebounded Thursday amid signs that Italy and Greece were moving to form new governments that would address their deep debt problems.

World oil prices drifted higher on Thursday but the market remained plagued by persistent doubts over the eurozone's debt crisis and in particular the plight of Italy, traders said.

The pilots' union is appealing in the Federal Court against Fair Work Australia's decision to stop Qantas industrial action, claiming it wrongfully ruled against members who had only taken minor ac

The prime minister's decision to work with unions on equal pay for community and social welfare workers has been backed by the state government.