The Australian dollar is lower as the European Union and the US prepare to impose sanctions on Russia after a referendum on the fate of Crimea went ahead despite Western opposition.
Australian households are each more than $13,000 better off thanks to trade with China, the country's ambassador to Australia told a business lunch in Perth today.
Cash strapped Jacka Resources has appointed two broking firms to assess capital raising options after confirming that a friendly takeover offer from Tangiers Petroleum looks set to fail.
In the second instalment of Business News Background, Mark Pownall and Mark Beyer discuss the news of the week and articles in next week's edition of the newspaper with James Lush.
Former Compass Hotel Group boss Brian Northcote has had his sentence for breaching directors duties and submitting false information to the corporate regulator extended by a New South Wales court.
Lack of supply of large, well-located office and retail assets in Perth's commercial property market has resulted in the total value of sales falling to less than half of what they were 12 months ago.
Alinta Energy has given a lukewarm response to reforms that could provide the state's residential customers with a choice of electricity retailers for the first time.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has again urged the Labor opposition to support the repeal of the mining tax when parliament resumes next week, describing it as an "anti-WA tax".
Doray Minerals has posted a maiden half-year profit on the back of the commencement of production at its Andy Well gold project in the Murchison region.
Mike Nahan has been tasked with the difficult job of managing the state's finances ahead of May's budget, replacing Troy Buswell as treasurer in a cabinet reshuffle.
Liquefied Natural Gas has completed a $4.2 million equity raising which will allow it to fulfill the requirements of a recently signed gas transportation contract.
A partnership between oil and gas heavyweights Woodside Petroleum and Chevron, and the University of Western Australia is changing the design of offshore pipelines and cutting construction costs for the expensive infrastructure.
Tight conditions in the mining services sector and a lower Australian dollar have paid dividends for Altona Mining, which has announced a solid increase in net present value and lower revised capital costs at its Little Eva copper project in Queensland.
Macro Energy will become the first Australian-listed company to enter the Bitcoin phenomenon under plans spearheaded by Perth SMS entrepreneur Zhenya Tsvetnenko.
Labor insists there's no rift between its Western Australian Senate candidates Joe Bullock and Louise Pratt, despite previous differences of opinion between the unionist and the gay marriage advocate.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has been challenged to expel union heavyweight Joe McDonald from the Labor Party after he was fined for physically threatening a worker who refused to strike.
Controversy surrounding former Treasurer Troy Buswell continues to plague Premier Colin Barnett, while police are still yet to question the former minister about a car crash.
Nedlands-based gold explorer ABM Resources has outlined plans to raise $19.6 million from private equity fund Pacific Road Capital as it aims to bring its Old Pirate project in the Northern Territory to production.
Gold miner Regis Resources has blamed higher production costs at its Duketon project for a 32 per cent slump in first half profit but says recovery efforts are proceeding in line with expectations after torrential rain caused extensive flood damage to the site.
