Qantas Airways Limited

The Australian stock market opened lower this morning, after global markets suffered a heavy loss and all key market indices dropped significantly.

Australian shares opened flat this morning. Wall Street overnight closed in the red despite the US market pared most of its early losses after news of halted flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The losses were caused by disappointing economic data including inflation figures, manufacturing in New York and industrial production across the country.

The Australian sharemarket Wednesday opened higher with gains across all sectors, as Wall Street significantly surged overnight, inspired by the upbeat corporate earnings for the second quarter. Today The S&P/ASX 200 index jumped approximately 1.7 per cent shortly after the opening bell.

Virgin Blue Holidngs (ASX:VBA) and Air New Zealand (NZE:AIR) confirmed that the two carriers have been in ongoing discussions for several months regarding commercial cooperation on Trans Tasman markets, but no agreement has been reached.

The Australian sharemarket fell on Thursday as investors digested some mixed earnings results. Investors also managed to take profit for the market after two days gains. At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index lost 13 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 4654.9, while the broader All Ordinaries index gave up 12.9 points, or 0.28 per cent to 4673.9.

Last week Asian markets mostly experienced a significantly losing week and will continue to be weighed by the negative lead from US and European markets on Monday. Asian stocks Friday stumbled on disappointing company forecasts and Toyota's recall of millions of cars. For the month, China's Shanghai Composite lost 8.8%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 8%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 6.2% and South Korea's Kospi slid 4.8% to 1602.43.

Wall Street shares closed mixed as investors took a breather after the new year's rally and turned cautious ahead of the payroll and employment data due on Friday. Yesterday Asian shares ended mostly higher following the good performance in Wall Street. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was 2.1 per cent higher while Shanghai Composite added 1.2 per cent.

The Australian sharemarket ended slightly lower on Monday after a positive start driven by a resources sector buoyed by higher commodity prices. The pullback was led by major banks, and consumer staples. At close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 6.4 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 4644.1, while the broader All Ordinaries gave up 6.1 points, or 0.13 per cent, at 4665.8.

The Australian sharemarket gave up early gains on Wednesday after the GDP figures released by Australian Bureau of Statistics showed a disappointing result in economy growth. At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 11.6 points lower, or 0.2 per cent, at 4661.9, while the broader All Ordinaries slashed 11.7 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 4676.1

Asian shares mostly opened flat this morning. Wall Street closed higher on Friday after the reports of consumer sector lifted investor confidence. The data also fuelled the expectations the US interest rates could hike soon. British and European shares also gained at after strong Chinese growth data.