Latest Headlines

The share market has closed slightly higher as poor trade figures and an upward revision to recent unemployment figures muted the response to strong growth in retail spending.

Copper producer Aditya Birla Minerals has flagged impairment charges in the range of $175 million to $225 million in its upcoming half-year financial report, resulting from mining set-backs, potential asset divestments, and devaluation of its heap leach inventory.

Interest rates are unlikely to move any time soon with the Reserve Bank of Australia still concerned about the high Australian dollar.

Pluton Resources says its major shareholder General Nice Resources has appointed KordaMentha as the company's receivers, after secured creditor Rizhao Port Group Logistics yesterday tried to appoint representatives from FTI Consulting to the same role.

Education provider Navitas says a rising number of foreigners are pretending to be students to get visas.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics is having another stab at calculating its jobs figures, and the latest estimates will look a bit worse than the previous attempt.

Rising house prices and the release of new smartphones have tempted Australians out of spending hibernation.

The Australian share market is slightly higher following soft leads from overseas markets and as the nation prepares to mark Melbourne Cup day.

Like all businesses, university assets funds should be put to work.

The Australian dollar has fallen to an almost three-week low after the release of weak local building approvals figures and Chinese manufacturing data.

US stocks have finished little changed following mixed economic data as markets paused after last week's records.

Oil prices have plunged late in the day, after reports that Saudi Arabia was slashing its export prices for the US market while hiking them for Asia.

Gold has extended its four-year low as the US dollar advanced against other currencies and stocks hit new record highs.

Tourism body Australia's NorthWest has wrapped up a three-year campaign marketing the Kimberley region by winning a top prize at this year's state tourism awards.

A leading medical researcher at the Telethon Kids Institute believes effective communication is key if the business community is to become more engaged in research into autism.

Activity in the state's debtor financing sector has ramped up, with one national business setting up shop in Perth and another, existing player moving to a bigger office.

Learning how to operate and work with food delivery robots, new cleaning technology and interactive patient entertainment systems will be just part of the process for 1,000 new Fiona Stanley Hospital workers.

Perth-based oil and gas company Range Resources entered into a memorandum of understanding with investor Core Capital Management for the provision of about $US50 million in cash and shares.

Perth-based uranium explorer and developer Toro Energy has secured a $10 million cash injection from global investor The Sentient Group, with a further $10 million to directly fund Toro's Wiluna project still to come.

Australia's big four banks have made a record total profit of $28.6 billion as property prices continued to surge.

The share market has closed weaker as softer commodity prices hit the big miners and Woolworths delivered disappointing sales growth.

China's maturing economy, not a conspiracy of collusion, is behind the actions of WA's two biggest iron ore miners.

Pluton Resources is in the midst of a battle between creditors, with major shareholder General Nice Resources and secured creditor Rizhao Port Group Logistics fighting over who gets to appoint receivers to the iron ore miner.

Embattled collier Continental Coal has struck a $70 million deal to offload its interest in its South African subsidiary, leaving the company debt free and with excess cash reserves.

Shares in Perth-based Amcom Telecommunications have hit a record high following the company's unveiling of its strategic east coast expansion.

Perth-based internet service provider iiNet is working on its third contract to build a public wireless internet network outside of Western Australia.

Western Australia's home builders won't keep up the record pace achieved in 2013-14, with housing starts flagged to fall 14 per cent next year on the back of slowing population growth and a softening economy.

Perth's residential property market is continuing to stall, with two measures of the median price showing it's been largely steady for the past three months, and the number of transactions dropping

The top end of the accounting profession in Western Australia has nearly doubled in size over the past decade, whereas the state's major law firms have recorded minimal growth, according to employment data compiled by Business News.

The state's healthcare and social services sectors are in for another decade of rapid change, industry leaders say, after growing employee numbers by more than 60,000 during the past 10 years.

Western Australia is feeling the effects of recent changes to workplace relations law, with 457 visa restrictions causing skills shortages in niche markets and a high level of industrial activity.

Our annual Biggest Employers feature has the latest BNiQ data on employment trends in WA, including the companies that are expanding and those that are shrinking, and in-depth analysis of what's happening in mining, construction, health care, accounting, law and other industries.