Oil prices have skidded sharply lower in volatile trade, pushing the US benchmark futures contract to a new five-year low amid concerns about ample global supplies.
Gold prices edged higher Thursday after Switzerland's central bank said it would introduce negative interest rates next year and as traders continued to adjust their outlook on US monetary policy.
Western Australia led the nation in population growth in the 12 months to June 2014, but the state has experienced the slowest growth rate in eight years, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Apart from a few brilliant authors and composers, not much good has ever come out of Russia; and unless there is a sharp improvement in the outlook for that country it could drag the rest of the world, including Australia, into a crisis to rival that of 2008.
The ASX-listed parent company of law firm Rockwell Olivier has been placed in administration, opening up the possibility of its partners buying back the business.
National Australia Bank chairman Michael Chaney launched a defence of coal-fired power as the lender, and rival ANZ, rejected calls to stop funding mining projects.
Engineering services company RCR Tomlinson has announced it will sell and lease back four properties for $37.5 million, with the proceeds to be used to pay down debt.
Shares in Perth company Resource Equipment have climbed 85.7 per cent today after the board recommended a cash takeover offer valuing the company at $115.5 million.
Plans to upgrade a major Perth highway using proceeds from a trucking toll have drawn widespread criticism, with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Labor Party and the Greens all finding fault with the project and its funding.
Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill mining company has told caterers to tighten food security after a worker at its West Australian site bit into a poisoned piece of fruit.
The Australian sharemarket is one per cent higher after an upbeat assessment of the American economy by the US central bank and a bounce in oil prices.
The Dow has jumped nearly 300 points after the US Federal Reserve made no changes to its monetary policy, saying it can remain "patient" before moving to raise interest rates.
Gold prices have shuffled between gains and losses in electronic trading, after the Federal Reserve made few changes to its statement at the end of its monetary policy meeting.
Sirius Resources has secured $440 million to fund the development of its Nova nickel mine, coinciding with it receiving mining approval from the Department of Mines and Petroleum.
