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The Australian share market has opened lower on concerns over a slowdown in China and despite a positive lead from Wall Street.

Retail spending appears to be on the rebound, with a seventh consecutive month of growth, an industry study shows.

US stocks have pushed higher on news that Apple plans a huge dividend and share buyback program and delivery giant UPS is buying European rival TNT.

Stockbroking firm Intersuisse has unveiled its new brand following the acquisition of Austock Securities, and it has opted for a name that won't easily be forgotten.

The Australian dollar has climbed to a 10-day high in the absence of major economic data releases.

AusGroup subsidiary AGC Industries has extended its relationship with Gindalbie Metals, announcing its preferred supplier status had resulted in a $160 million structural and mechanical and piping

Shale gas fracking is set to begin in the lower Mid West in June, after months of regulatory delays.

The Australian share market finished stronger, boosted by the resources sector with iron ore players Fortescue Metals Group and Atlas Iron the standouts.

Agribusiness Elders expects a substantial injection of cash if it emerges the winner in a long-running tax dispute with the Australian Taxation Office.

Shareholders will be hit with double taxation on dividends from miners if the federal government's mining tax legislation is passed, Australia's biggest and oldest listed investment company says.

The opposition has taken Treasurer Wayne Swan to task for insisting that Australia's 2.7 million small businesses will benefit from a planned cut in the company tax rate.

Boosting productivity growth is the only way for Australians to improve their living standards, the country's central bank chief says.

The United States Navy has exercised options to order an additional two Littoral Combat Ships from Western Australia-based shipbuilder Austal.

The number of scams reported to Australia's consumer watchdog almost doubled last year, with financial losses from the rorts totalling more than $85 million.

Several Woodside Petroleum oil fields off the Western Australian coast remain suspended from production following Tropical Cyclone Lua.

Forge Resources shares have jumped after it announced it had lined up $50 million in funding and signed a joint venture partner for its Balla Balla iron ore project near the Pilbara coast.

Minemakers has rejected reports that Indian state-owned miner NMDC is poised to buy all of its rock phosphate reserves, saying it is only in talks to sell half and for a lot more than flagged.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard's mining tax looks set to pass the Senate tonight, after the Australian Greens signalled they would vote for the legislation even though their preferred amendments have

All Australians will be entitled to government-funded training if the states and territories sign up to a new federal government plan.

The Australian share market has opened slightly higher.

The Australian dollar is more than half a US cent higher, following last week's US equities rally.

A clear improvement in the Federal Reserve's economic outlook, and a solid outcome of the Fed's stress tests for major banks, gave the markets another strong two per cent-plus boost this week.

Hong Kong-listed Wah Nam International has declared its cash and scrip takeover offer for iron ore explorer Brockman Resources free from all remaining conditions.

Japan's Inpex Corporation announced today it had struck an agreement with Shell to purchase a 17.5 per cent interest in the Prelude floating LNG project, located off WA's northern coast.

The Australian dollar was firmer after lifting back above 105 US cents in response to a positive session on US equity markets in offshore trading.

The City of Perth has extended its rates relief program for owners of buildings listed in its register of cultural and heritage significance.

Fisheries Minister Norman Moore has committed $14.5 million over the next four years to seek sustainability certification for the state's commercial fisheries.

The Australian share market closed flat, having recouped losses earlier in the day.

The Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre has signed Willie Creek Pearls as its cornerstone tenant for a boutique retail precinct within the centre.

The chief executive of the nation's largest cattle producer Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) says the company is ready to increase its live cattle exports to Indonesia.

Qube Logistics' purchase of Bunbury company Giacci Holdings has started to pay dividends, after it won the haulage and port services contract for Sandfire Resources' De Grussa copper-gold project,