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SPECIAL REPORT: As WA households benefit from increased competition in gas retailing, the electricity sector wants to be able to compete with Synergy in providing to small customers, with some industry members calling for a reduction in the contestability threshold to 20 megawatt hours.

The share price of Balcatta-based Imdex hit its highest level in four years today after the mining equipment and technology company reported a strong improvement in earnings.

The Australian share market has closed lower, with most sectors in the red as investors reacted negatively to a mixed bag of company earnings reports.

Southern Cross Electrical Engineering has struck a three-year services agreement worth $20 million with Queensland utility Egon Energy.

Austal has announced it is negotiating to build a ferry worth more than $100 million for Norwegian shipping company Fjord Line, after the Norwegian group said it had already commissioned the local shipbuilder.

The restructuring of Paladin Energy has taken a surprise turn after Chinese group CNNC Overseas Uranium Holdings advised it would not exercise an option to buy the Langer Heinrich uranium mine.

Shares in BlueScope Steel have fallen more than 20 per cent despite its full-year profit more than doubling, after the company offered a mixed outlook on the back of rising costs.

Investors have dumped shares in Vocus after Australia's fourth-biggest telco ended a $2.2 billion bidding war for the company, saying the two suitors were unable to support the buy on the board's terms.

The Western Australian government is considering suing the Australian Rugby Union for more than $100 million over the decision to axe the Western Force, threatening to bankrupt the body.

Australian shares have started the week in the red following falls in international markets and dragged down by a sharp loss in BlueScope Steel stocks.

Fortescue Metals has flagged it will sustain higher payouts for shareholders after a rebound in iron prices and lower costs helped it more than double full-year profit.

Tony Abbott will be spending the week far from the dramas of parliament, as a teacher's aide in the Kimberley.

Subsea plan to feed GorgonChevron is considering using a radical new technology known as subsea compression to keep gas flowing to the Gorgon LNG project and avoid a mu

The Australian dollar is up sharply against its US counterpart back above 79 US cents amid a slight rebound in risk appetite following US President Donald Trump's firing of controversial Trump adviser Steve Bannon.

Oil prices have risen sharply, as the dollar fell and US drillers cut rigs, feeding a rally that boosted global benchmark Brent crude to a weekly gain while US crude was virtually flat on the week.

Gold prices have closed little changed after jumping to their highest in more than nine months as the US dollar retreated on political uncertainty in the United States and a suspected Islamist militant attack in Spain boosted bullion's safe-haven appeal.

Innovative affordable housing models have emerged in Fremantle, with three developers pushing the envelope of sustainability and lifestyle.

The share market has closed lower after increased political uncertainty in the US sparked a sharp sell-off on Wall Street and soured global risk appetite.

Local exploration company Top End Minerals, with the backing of prominent prospector Mark Creasy, has received shareholder approval to raise funds for the purchase of a zinc project in Myanmar and repay its creditors, as it deals with a number of issues left unresolved by its previous board.

Fourth-generation commercial building company W Fairweather & Son was named the winner of the Master Builders Association's Robert Law award at an event in Perth today.

GR Engineering Services has requested its shares be suspended from trading on the ASX while it assesses the impact of Eastern Goldfield's now-retracted wind-up order, as well as a £7.5 million ($A12.2 million) bond claim notice lodged by Wolf Minerals.

UPDATED: The federal government has declined to provide co-funding for two irrigation projects in Western Australia's South West that were expected to trigger a total investment of $460 million and create 1,500 jobs, after an expert panel found the WA government did not fully address the assessment criteria.

A dispute over Indian sandalwood producer Santanol Group has pitted 21 Western Australian investors, led by forestry veterans Bob Bunning and Tony Jack, against private equity giant KKR and its local representatives, including Jock Clough and incoming Wesfarmers executive Ed Bostock.

In this Business News podcast Mark Pownall and Mark Beyer discuss South West irrigation schemes, sandalwood, NRW, and Lawleys, plus power and energy.

Film distributor Village Roadshow has won in legal proceedings brought against telco services including Telstra, forcing them to block domain names for services used to illegally download movies and other programs.

Aspiring heavy rare earths miner Northern Minerals has raised $2.5 million from investors to fund ongoing development of its Browns Range project in the Kimberley.

The Australian market has opened sharply lower.

WA's share of GST ‘in the black'WA's claims to being shortchanged by the GST system have been undermined by Victorian research that says WA is $25 billion in the black

The Australian dollar has fallen more than half a cent against its US counterpart with the greenback strengthening amid euro weakness following the release of European Central Bank's policy meeting minutes.

Oil prices have risen amid renewed attention on US oil stockpile declines after an industry report suggested oil inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub were dropping.

Gold prices have risen for a second day after Federal Reserve officials hinted that US interest rates could rise more slowly than expected, while palladium has been lifted to a fresh 16-year high by strong industrial metals markets.

The Supreme Court of Western Australia has reversed its decision to wind-up Eastern Goldfields after it was revealed the relevant debt of $383,000 was paid on the same day the winding-up application was lodged.