Australian building materials maker James Hardie Industries says full-year earnings would meet the top of market forecasts as the U.S. housing market, the core of its business, hits bottom.
U.S. coal miner Cloud Peak Energy, a unit of Rio Tinto Plc, priced shares in its initial public offering below expectations on concerns the flotation was designed to help its parent's balance sheet rather than fund its own growth.
Shares of Insurance Australian Group (IAG)were tumbling on Friday, after Chief Financial Officer of its rival QBE Insurance, Neil Drabsch, said a merger of the two companies did not make sense.
There is no greater source of untapped internal demand than China, says Stephen Roach, Asia chairman at Morgan Stanley. But Roach cautioned that China would only be more attractive after a long overdue correction.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Grouphas more than doubled the size of a convertible preference share issue to A$ 1.7 billion Australian dollars ($1.58 billion) after strong demand from investors.
The chance of BHP Billiton making another attempt to take over rival Rio Tinto soon after a bid ban expires later this month is low, analysts said on Tuesday.
Australian grains marketer AWB sees a return to profit in the year to Sept. 30, after reporting a net loss due to heavy writedowns on several of its business.
New Zealand utilities investor Infratil posted a first-half loss on Tuesday after writing down assets, and repeated its interest in buying Shell's downstream and refining assets in the country.
Incitec Pivot, Australia's top fertilizer maker, expects a tough year ahead, with some gains in fertilizer demand and prices in Australia but a flat outlook for explosives in its key U.S. market.
World leaders showed political will to move forward climate change discussions at the APEC conference over the weekend, and the focus now shifts to achieving breakthrough in the Copenhagen summit in December, said Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Asia should not be "so fearful" about the appreciation of Asian currencies against the U.S. dollar, New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key said on Friday.
Shares in Australasian retailerKathmandu climbed 7 percent on their first day of trade on Friday, in a sign that IPOs can succeed in fragile markets if the pricing is set sensitively.
Westfield Group, the world's biggest shopping mall owner, saw market conditions continuing to stabilize in the United States and Britain, and reconfirmed its 2009 earnings guidance.
Investors should put their cash to work and focus on leading economic indicators, and not lagging indicators such as the unemployment rate, advised Daphne Roth, head of equity research at ABN AMRO Private Banking.... Read More
Look to invest in hot growth spots in Asia such as China's oil refiners and wind power firms, as the region's economy will see a stronger recovery compared to the rest of the world, said Philip Niem, head of Asia discretionary portfolio management at Barclays... Read More