WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke called Tuesday for legislation to provide “more robust” supervision of Wall Street investment firms to help avert crises like the one that felled Bear Stearns.
WASHINGTON - China’s economy will overtake that of the United States by 2035 and be twice its size by midcentury, a study released by a US research organisation concluded.
BRUSSELS - EU finance ministers gave Slovakia the final green light today to adopt the euro on January 1, 2009, leaving the ex-communist country less than six months to prepare for the changeover, an EU official said.
PARIS - Liquid containing traces of unenriched uranium leaked at a nuclear site in southern France, and some of the solution ran into two rivers, France’s nuclear safety agency said.
STRASBOURG - The European Parliament approved a proposal to include airlines in the bloc’s strategy to cut carbon dioxide emissions - a move that could raise the cost of air travel and provoke a dispute with the United States.
PARIS - European plane maker Airbus led arch-rival Boeing in the fight for new business in the first six months of the year with 487 new orders versus 475 for the US manufacturer, Airbus figures showed Tuesday.
MILAN - Fiat, Italy’s largest automaker, will lay off workers at four of its six Italian plants for three one-week periods later this year due to the contracting automobile market, a spokesman said.
HELSINKI - Only three per cent of mobile phone users around the world recycle their old mobile phones, Finnish handset maker Nokia says.
BRASILIA - Brazil’s economy minister, Guido Mantega, on Tuesday criticized opposition to opening up the G8 to economically vibrant nations in the developing world, including his own.
JOHANNESBURG - Harmony Gold halved the cash element in the sale of its Mount Magnet operations to Australian-based junior miner Monarch Gold Mining but the overall price was unchanged.
WELLINGTON - Singapore-based global dairy trader Olam International says it will pay $NZ101 million ($A79.71 million) for a 24.99 per cent stake in New Zealand dairy processor Dairy Trust Ltd.
LOCAL NEWS
MELBOURNE - An emissions trading scheme could force one of Australia’s largest oil refineries to close, cutting competition and threatening further fuel price rises, ExxonMobil Australia says.
CANBERRA - A $21.66 pay rise to Australia’s lowest paid workers could drive up inflation, industry chief Heather Ridout has warned.
The Australian Fair Pay Commission granted the weekly pay rise to over a million workers.
CANBERRA - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will be in the spotlight of the world stage yet again today when he addresses world leaders in Japan - and he’ll be talking climate change.
HOBART - A coroner has ruled that an inquest is required into the death of Beaconsfield miner Larry Knight.
Stocks to watch on the Australian stock exchange today:
AFG - ALLCO FINANCE GROUP LTD - up 1.5 cents to 36 cents
Allco has sold part of its Singaporean real estate arm for $138 million to Frasers Centrepoint Ltd (FCL).
The sale involves Allco’s 17.7 per cent interest in the Allco Commercial REIT and its 100 per cent stake in the manager of the Allco REIT, Allco Singapore Ltd.
It will generate proceeds of more than $90 million, Allco said.
Allco said the sale, as well as recent asset sales, meant the firm had significantly progressed its restructuring plans.
It said it had refocused its strategy around the company’s core capabilities of sourcing and managing aviation, shipping and rail assets, managing the funds that own those assets and private equity.
CIF - CHALLENGER INFRASTRUCTURE FUND LTD (CIF) - down one cent to $2.74
CIF’s second biggest shareholder has stepped up its campaign to wind up the fund by serving notice for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM).
The London-based Consensus Business Group, which has a voting interest in 18.4 per cent of CIF’s stock, has served the notice on Challenger Listed Investments Ltd, which is the infrastructure fund’s responsible entity.
MIS - MIDWEST CORPORATION LTD - unchanged at $6.38
Sinosteel Corp is on the cusp of gaining control of Midwest after four of the company’s directors decided to tend their own shareholding into the $1.36 billion takeover offer.
Midwest chairman Jesse Taylor and directors Francis Ng, Steven Chong and Stephen de Belle, have decided to accept the $6.38 cash per share bid offer for their collective 4.1 per cent holding in the company.
This will give Sinosteel, China’s second largest iron ore trader, a 49.68 per cent holding in iron ore miner, Midwest.
TCL - TRANSURBAN GROUP LTD - up 15 cents to $4.60
Transurban has reported an increase in annual revenue from tolls and fees on its roads in Australia and the United States, helped by higher traffic volumes and toll increases.
Transurban released traffic and revenue data for the 2008 June quarter and the 2008 full year today.
Transurban said toll and fee revenue from its biggest asset, the CityLink toll road in Melbourne, for 2007/08 had risen 9.2 per cent to $362.8 million, taking into account the impact of traffic volumes of road upgrade works.
HER - HERALD RESOURCES LTD - up one cent to $2.92
Indonesian mining group PT Antam Tbk and its Chinese partner have extended a $553.6 million takeover bid for zinc-hopeful Herald Resources Ltd.
PT Antam and Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet Co Ltd, which hold about 19.35 per cent of Herald, have extended their $2.80 cash per share offer for the company by one week to July 15.
CRE - CRESCENT GOLD LTD - down five cents to 14.5 cents
Crescent Gold Ltd shares have sunk to a 12-month low after the gold producer suspended its Laverton operation in Western Australia following problems with the processing plant.
The company has been forced to slash its workforce and implement a six month review of the processing plant, with resumption of production not expected until the first quarter of 2009.
