AAP

Retail spending has risen for the third month in a row, giving hope to a sector struggling with a high Australian dollar and consumer caution.

Activity in the Australian services sector contracted in October as sales weakened and new orders fell, a private survey shows.

The Australian share market opened higher after a lift on United States exchange overnight.

Car maker Holden says it has not made a final decision about the future of the Commodore, despite union claims that the next model could be the last created in Australia.

ANZ Banking Corporation has increased full year profit by 19 per cent to $5.36 billion, but says market volatility and consumer caution is likely to be a factor for some time.

The Australian dollar was slightly lower after the US central bank's policy meeting did not announce any new economic stimulus measures.

US stocks have rebounded after the Federal Reserve's policymakers kept ultra-low interest rates and said they were prepared to do more if needed to stimulate the sluggish economy.

Australian shares posted a third consecutive trading day of losses as optimism evaporated about the eurozone debt deal after Greece's call for a referendum on the plan.

The Australian dollar is trading almost one US cent lower on renewed worries about the eurozone debt resolution after Greece said it would hold a referendum on accepting a second bailout package.

The federal government is predicting an additional 76,000 jobs will be created in the retail sector by 2015.

Woolworths' new chief executive Grant O'Brien is planning an aggressive push to open 39 new supermarkets while reviewing the company's troubled Big W and Dick Smith stores.

Virgin Australia chief executive John Borghetti has rejected claims the airline's pilots, engineers and ground crew are paid substantially less than those at Qantas Airways.

More than three-quarters of Australians won't have enough superannuation to last them throughout their retirement, a new report warns.

The competition watchdog says Qantas is not doing enough to compensate the 68,000 passengers left out of pocket by its grounding.

Senior government ministers have rejected union calls for changes to the Fair Work Act following the forced termination of industrial action at Qantas.

Rio Tinto has significantly boosted its plans for driverless trucks at its Western Australian mines, increasing its order from 10 trucks to 150.

ANZ has become the third of the major banks to pass on Tuesday's central bank rate cut in full, but National Australia Bank only passed on a 20 point cut.

Shares in OneSteel plunged 16 per cent to a decade low after the company revised down its earnings guidance because of the recent fall in the iron ore price and rise in the Australian dollar.

Outspoken Labor backbencher Doug Cameron says the government will have to consider changing the Fair Work Act to make sure companies can't abuse the law like he says Qantas did on the weekend.

The Australian stock market has opened lower, mirroring large losses on offshore bourses, as investors reacted to the latest developments in financially-troubled Greece.

Westpac Banking Corporation has increased full year profit by 10 per cent, saying its business strategy was "delivering tangible benefits".

The Australian dollar is sharply lower as news of a Greek referendum to decide whether to accept a second Eurozone bailout package sent jitters through markets.

Collapsed US broker MF Global may have used client money on its own behalf as it fought to beat losses on European debt, markets operator CME Group said Tuesday.

US stocks dived Tuesday after Greece unexpectedly called a referendum on its latest EU bailout program, sending global markets into a tailspin.

The Australian dollar fell after the central bank cut interest rates and weaker than expected Chinese manufacturing figures were published.

Australia's export commodity prices fell in October, the second consecutive drop from a record high in August.

Qantas Airways' bookings should improve in the period ahead as the end of work stoppages brings greater certainty to the Flying Kangaroos' schedule, analysts say.

More than half of Western Australia's surf life saving clubs are threatened by rising sea levels and erosion, according to a new report.

Australian stocks fell 1.5 per cent, as weakness among the nation's major miners dragged the broader market lower on weaker Chinese manufacturing data and concerns about Europe.

Grocery giant Coles has been caught up in an online scam offering free $500 gift cards to the supermarket.

BHP Billiton has approved the development of the $US4.2 billion ($A4 billion) Caval Ridge Mine coal project in the northern Bowen Basin in central Queensland.