AAP

The jobless rate in Western Australia rose to 5.8 per cent in June, while a small increase in the national rate has economists warning it hasn't yet peaked.

At 1028 AEST on Thursday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 64.5 points, or 1.18 per cent, at 5,405 points.

The Australian dollar has bounced back from a six-year low after the greenback fell amid a lengthy outage on the New York Stock Exchange.

The New York Stock Exchange halted trading Wednesday for more than three hours due to technical problems that it said were not caused by hacking.

US oil prices have dropped for the fifth straight trading session as domestic crude stockpiles rose again, but London prices inched higher.

Gold has risen as the US dollar has softened, reversing after touching a four-month low as markets watched the tumble in Chinese equities and the unfolding Greek debt crisis.

The Greek crisis may have spooked Australia's financial markets, but it is China that will potentially give Treasurer Joe Hockey nightmares.

The Shanghai composite index was down 5.9 per cent in trading today as more than 1,300 Chinese companies entered trading halts.

Worries about China have been added to concerns about Greece, pushing the Australian share market down 2 per cent.

Atlas Iron says it has protected its finances against an iron ore price that has plunged below $US50 a tonne.

The corporate watchdog is investigating whether key market indexes, such as the Australian share market's top 200 companies, are being rorted.

The Australian share market has opened lower.

The Australian dollar has broken a new six-year low as the greenback rallies.

US stocks have finished higher in a topsy-turvy session, rallying after worries about Greece and China caused deep losses in early trade.

Gold has fallen to a near four-month low, while silver has sunk nearly seven per cent and platinum has dropped to a 2009 low, as the US dollar rallied ahead of an emergency eurozone summit on Greece with the country's banks rapidly running out of cash.

The Australian share market has made its best gains in nearly five months as investors await the next developments in the Greek debt crisis.

The Reserve Bank of Australia stayed on the fence, as expected, today but there are plenty of reasons it might climb down off it in the coming months.

Regulators have again admonished management at Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill iron ore mine over safety concerns.

The iron ore industry is tipped to contribute more than $600 billion to the Australian economy over the next decade, despite falling prices for the steel-making commodity.

The Australian share market has opened higher.

US oil prices have sunk nearly eight per cent on worries about slowing global growth after Greek voters rejected a bailout offer and China moved to calm financial market turbulence.

US stocks have fallen moderately, joining most global bourses in moving lower after the Greek vote against further austerity measures raised fears the country could exit the eurozone.

The Australian dollar is lower amid uncertainty over Greece's future and concerns about China's equity markets.

More than $20 billion has been wiped off the Australian stock market after Greece shocked investors with an overwhelming rejection of austerity measures that could lead to the country's messy exit from the euro zone.

Unemployment is believed to have bumped higher in June thanks to a slowdown in the creation of new jobs.

AGL Energy will make more than $600 million worth of writedowns on its upstream gas ventures and sell underperforming businesses as it battles uncertainty surrounding oil and gas prices.

Inflation in Australia remains well below the Reserve Bank of Australia's target but interest rates are not expected to be cut this week.

The Australian share market is down well over one per cent in the wake of debt-ridden Greece's decision to reject international creditors' tough bailout terms.

The Australian dollar has hit a six-year low as Greece looks set to reject further austerity cuts in a bailout referendum.

Gold prices have firmed, rebounding from a three-and-a-half-month low as the USdollar softened, while investors remained cautious ahead of Greece's referendum on an international bailout deal.

Qantas is sharing the spoils of its estimated $1.6 billion dollar turnaround by paying $90 million in bonuses to staff who've taken an 18-month pay freeze.

The Australian share market has slipped 1 per cent ahead of Greece's referendum on bailout conditions.