AAP

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has returned to Australia to find her government is more popular with voters than when she left a week ago.

Australian stocks have opened firmer, with the gold and metals and minerals sectors leading the broader market higher after a positive lead from Wall Street.

The Australian dollar has lifted this morning, on the back of positive economic news from the US, and optimism around local data due today.

US stocks jumped strongly in the last two hours of trade Monday to finish in the green after a day spent mostly in the loss zone under more clouds from the eurozone crisis.

More than half of Australians disapprove of the decision by Qantas last month to ground its domestic and international fleet, a new poll shows.

The Australian dollar fell almost half a US cent as traders awaited further developments on the resolution to Greece's sovereign debt woes.

Voluntary targets for female participation on company boards should be encouraged, the global head of a professional services network company says.

The federal government is talking up its efforts to achieve uniform rules on coal seam gas mining to protect the environment.

Australia's unemployment rate is expected to have risen in October as global economic uncertainties kept local employers from hiring new staff.

The Australian share market closed slightly lower after energy stocks lost ground and Westpac and Macquarie Group traded without a dividend.

The push for a new regional free trade deal will be at the top of Prime Minister Julia Gillard's agenda when she sits down with her Asia-Pacific counterparts in Hawaii this week.

Evolution Mining says one of its four Australian gold mines may beat its full year production forecast, but two could fall short.

Acting Prime Minister Wayne Swan says he believes sticking to the federal government's plan to bring the budget back to surplus in 2012/13 sends an important message to financial markets that there

Job advertisements have fallen for the fourth month in a row, suggesting that unemployment will rise in the coming months and adding to the case for lower interest rates.

Australian stocks have opened marginally lower, much less than the declines on offshore markets late last week.

Residential lot production in Perth is back on the upswing, after a sustained period of decline, according to a report released today.

The Australian dollar has dropped slightly after a disappointing conclusion to the G20 Summit over the weekend.

Oil prices gained on Friday as markets prepared for another weekend of mystery over the fate of the eurozone rescue plan.

Three Harvey Norman stores have been placed in the hands of administrators, two of them wholly-owned subsidiaries in Western Australia.

The Australian dollar rose around one and a half US cents as concerns over Greece's debt crisis eased.

Resources giant Rio Tinto says it's comfortable with its dependence on China but warns that investors have become more apprehensive about investing in Australia.

The boss of engineering group Downer EDI says he will consider sourcing more products from China.

Copper and gold explorer Sandfire Resources has signed a sales deal with a private Swiss commodity trading company for product from its DeGrussa project in Western Australia.

The federal government is doggedly sticking to its plan to bring the budget back to surplus in 2012/13, despite new Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) forecasts suggesting revenues will be somewhat lo

Rio Tinto chairman Jan Du Plessis says he can't see European leaders coming up with a sustainable solution to the region's financial problems.

Consumer credit demand has risen in the September quarter, driven by a turnaround in personal loan applications, a private sector study says.

Perth-based junior gold explorer Peel Mining says it has been awarded two exploration permits in Central Otago, New Zealand.

Premier Colin Barnett has confirmed Mines Minister Norman Moore is being considered for the post of the state's agent-general in London.

Santos has secured a six-year contract to supply gas from its Reindeer field off Western Australia to Minara Resources' Murrin Murrin nickel mine in the Goldfields.

Transfield Services has secured $130 million in work with the defence industry, including a five-year extension in Western Australia.

Australia must not get involved in the eurozone bailout unless Europe does all it can to get its own house in order, federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says.