A supreme court judge has been appointed to head a caretaker government in Greece until new elections are held on June 17, as citizens continue to withdraw millions of euros from banks amid fears the country ...

Senior judge Panagiotis Pikramenos has been named Greece's caretaker prime minister, with new elections to be held on June 17, Greek state TV says.

Shopping centre giant Westfield is punting on interest rate cuts and $5 billion worth of federal government handouts to families to help entice people to spend again.Chief executive Steven Lowy believes ...

Building products maker CSR expects Australia's housing construction market to remain bleak for the foreseeable future and says it is difficult to predict the timing of a recovery.The company estimates ...

Shale gas might be booming in the United States but it faces many hurdles before it can be commercially viable in Australia.Industry consultants KPMG said extracting shale gas was currently too expensive ...

The Australian dollar is extending its fall below below parity with the US dollar as renewed worries about debt-stricken Greece weighs on the currency.Greece is expected to hold new elections, possibly ...

Westfield Group has again come under fire over the treatment of low-paid shopping centre cleaners hired through third parties.Community service provider Uniting Care said cost-cutting was being imposed ...

Australian stocks plunged to two-month lows, led by the resources sector, with $32 billion wiped from the value of the market as Greece's problems kept investor confidence at depressing lows.The benchmark ...

BHP Billiton chairman Jacques Nasser says the global miner will not spend the $80 billion on growth projects that it said it would, stepping back from previous commitments.Mr Nasser, speaking in Sydney, ...

Total loan approvals rose 5.2 per cent in March, despite a dip in mortgage lending.The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Monday said seasonally-adjusted personal finance commitments rose 1.1 per ...

Australian bond future prices inched higher on continued worries about the euro zone but remain just below their record highs set just a day ago .At 1630 AEST on Wednesday, the 10-year bond futures contract ...

Stocks to watch on the Australian stock exchange at close on Wednesday:BHP - BHP BILLITON LTD - down $1.37 - or 4.04 per cent - at $32.49BHP Billiton chairman Jacques Nasser says the global miner will ...

Australian stocks closed at a two-month low, after one of its sharpest one-day percentage falls this year.The local bourse took its lead from much weaker European and US markets overnight, which dropped ...

An industry report says software piracy in Asia cost businesses more than $US20 billion ($A20.18 billion) in lost sales last year.The Business Software Alliance's study released on Wednesday said consumers ...

Virgin Australia says it has started trialling the use of biodiesel to power some ground vehicles at Brisbane Airport.The fuel for the eight-week trial will contain 80 per cent conventional diesel and ...

US giant General Electric (GE) aims to increase its presence in the booming resources sector through a $700 million friendly takeover for Australian mining equipment-maker Industrea.Industrea shares jumped ...

Wages growth cooled slightly in the March quarter, but not enough to impact any interest rate deliberations by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).Total hourly rates of pay, excluding bonuses, rose by ...

May 16 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand shares fell, led by the News Corp-controlled Sky Network Television after the regulator said it will investigate the pay-TV company's content deals with internet service ...

May 16 (BusinessDesk) - AWF Group, the contract labour company, reported a 23 percent fall in net profit as it wrote down the value of its goodwill, even as it lifted sales by 19 percent.

May 16 (BusinessDesk) - Wellington Drive Technologies is forecasting a profit in 2013, the first since listing on the NZX in 2001, as its turnaround cost cutting drive starts to widen the margin on sales ...

NZ dollar falls to 4 1/2 mth low amid concerns Greece will give up the euro

Transport and logistics group Toll Holdings has warned of lower earnings in 2012, sending its shares plummeting.Toll on Wednesday announced writedowns on its freight operations in Japan and some of its ...

May 16 (BusinessDesk) - A tie-up between pay-TV operator Sky Network Television and state-owned Television New Zealand will hamper competition in the pay-TV market and undermine free-to-air broadcasters, ...

Victorian electricity and gas distributor SP AusNet's full year profit has risen to $253 million due partly to higher electricity prices.SP AusNet distributes electricity to about 642,000 customers in ...

The Australian dollar has traded in a narrow range after falling sharply overnight on news Greece will face fresh elections.At 1200 AEST on Wednesday the Australian dollar was trading at 99.24 US cents, ...

Rising labour prices in the first three months of the year contrast with the central bank's reading of employment demand and inflation, economists say.Total hourly rates of pay, excluding bonuses, rose ...

Australian stocks were down close to two per cent at noon with the resources-linked sectors doing it toughest on a day of broad-based declines.At 1203 AEST on Wednesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index ...

Rising labour prices in the first three months of the year contrast with the central bank's reading of employment demand and inflation, economists say.Total hourly rates of pay, excluding bonuses, rose ...

Stocks to watch on the Australian stock exchange at noon on Wednesday:CSR - CSR LTD - down two cents, or 1.2 per cent, at $1.67Building products group CSR fears Australia's housing construction industry ...

A company building a $350 million expansion of Ararat Prison in central Victoria has gone into liquidation, with the loss of hundreds of jobs.St Hilliers Ararat Pty Ltd was part of a consortium contracted ...

Australian stocks have opened more than one per cent lower amid broad based declines as local market players took their cues from a poor night on Wall Street and ongoing troubles in Europe.At 1028 AEST ...

May 16 (BusinessDesk) - The skipper and factory manager of the Oyang 77, a fishing vessel part-owned by South Korea’s biggest fishing company, will face 13 charges of misreporting and illegal dumping of ...

Global shopping centre giant Westfield Group says its forecast distribution for the 2012 year remains unchanged as Australian specialty store sales grew slightly in the March quarter.Westfield also said ...