The Australian stock market has opened higher following positive leads from US and European markets which have negated the downward effect of local stocks paying out their dividend.
The controversial split of shopping centre giant Westfield has been an early winner, delivering shareholders a $4.5 billion gain in less than two months.
The S&P 500 has finished above 2000 for the first time, capping a steep climb from 676 in March 2009, when the market hit bottom during the Great Recession.
Oil prices have traded mixed, with New York crude lifted as investors bet on another decline in commercial inventories in the United States, the world's largest oil consumer.
Subiaco-based explorer TNG has taken the next step towards formal agreements with South Korean steel giant POSCO over its Mount Peake vanadium project by signing a letter of intent with Global-Pacific Partners.
Mineral explorer and developer Mirabela Nickel still faces uncertainty as a going concern after coming out of administration in June, on the back of lower than expected nickel prices.
Mix 94.5 has continued to retain its lead as Perth’s favourite radio station while 92.9 lost 1.3 per cent of its listeners, according to the latest radio survey.
The Australian share market has closed almost flat as modest gains among the major banks outweighed weakness in the big miners pressured by falling iron ore prices.
West Perth-based miner Metals X has reported a 332 per cent full-year profit increase to $37.4 million, alongside a 247 per cent surge in revenue to $238.6 million.
Southern Cross Electrical Engineering has reported a $9.6 million slump in full-year profit to $7.7 million on the back of a 21 per cent fall in revenue to $218.2 million.
Belmont-based contractor GR Engineering Services lifted its full-year profit by 89.3 per cent to $14.2 million, despite a drop in revenue of 0.4 per cent to $114.2 million.
Global Construction Services says its 2014 financial year earnings were hit by delays in major projects in the Perth CBD moving from approval to construction and a slowdown in resources-sector demand in the Pilbara, leading to a near-50 per cent fall in net profit.
Struggling clothing maker Pacific Brands is selling its workwear business to Wesfarmers Industrial and Safety, after write-downs and weaker profit margins blew its full-year loss out to $224 million.
Agricultural lobby group WA Farmers will be releasing its own milk brand in November, with proceeds used to support market development in the farming industry.
Perth gold company Resolute Mining says the combination of lower gold prices and higher costs were behind a 60 per cent drop in full-year profit, to $33 million..
FEATURE: Having gained notoriety in the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire, the phrase ‘show me the money’ will be heard often, and loudly, in business in Western Australia in coming years as capital inflows become capital outflows and funds become harder-than-ever to raise.
Western Australia has recorded a 38 per cent reduction in littering from 2008 and is at its lowest level in nine years, according to the 2013-14 National Litter Index.
