(Reuters) – Australian retailers are in for a sombre period this fiscal year as high interest rates squeeze household budgets, especially for discretionary spending, Citigroup said on Thursday, with expected further rate hikes likely to dent confidence even more. The brokerage cut its fiscal 2024 earnings forecast for electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi, fashion retailer Premier…
By Rishav Chatterjee (Reuters) -Shares of Bubs Australia pared most of their early losses on Thursday after opening about 9% lower, as the embattled baby formula maker launched a five-point plan to reduce operating expenses and cash burn. Bubs has been focussing on streamlining its businesses locally, in China and the West and said it…
(Reuters) – Openmarkets Australia Ltd was fined a record A$4.5 million ($2.99 million) after a panel found the retail broker in violation of numerous market integrity rules, the country’s corporate regulator said on Thursday. Routine surveillance from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) had identified repeated suspicious trading by an Openmarkets client. The client…
By Devayani Sathyan BENGALURU (Reuters) – Australia’s central bank will likely deliver a 25 basis point interest rate increase on Aug. 1 following a pause on Tuesday according to economists in a snap Reuters poll who were split on when and where the cost of borrowing would peak. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decided…
By Lewis Jackson SYDNEY (Reuters) -PwC Australia provided Google confidential information about the start date of a new tax law leaked from Australian government tax briefings, according to two sources familiar with the matter. This is the first time a company has been directly linked to the national scandal involving the “big four” accounting firm…
By Jamie McGeever (Reuters) – A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever, financial markets columnist. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen touches down in Beijing on Thursday for a three-day visit just as trade tensions between the world’s two superpowers ratchet up another notch, while a Malaysian interest rate decision tops the…
By Sinéad Carew and Tom Wilson NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – MSCI’s global equities index lost ground on Wednesday after weaker-than-expected overseas data and as investors monitored a heating up of American-Chinese trade tensions while they awaited upcoming U.S. economic data and second-quarter earnings. Investors shrugged off U.S. Federal Reserve meeting minutes released on Wednesday that…
By Lewis Jackson SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia’s fourth largest pension fund suspended new work with PwC Australia on Tuesday, the latest in a string of funds to pause work with the accounting firm over a scandal which first surfaced in January over the misuse of government tax plans. The decision by UniSuper, which manages A$115 billion…
(Reuters) -Australia’s corporate regulator on Wednesday asked the country’s banks to disclose data on fees charged to Indigenous consumers after a review found they were not meeting targets for moving First Nations people into low-fee accounts. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) found that many Indigenous consumers are paying up to A$3,000 ($2,007) in…
(Reuters) – Australia’s AMP Ltd tanked on Wednesday after the country’s federal court ruled against the wealth manager in class action proceedings that challenged the validity of some of the changes to its ‘buyer of last resort’ policy. Shares of the company fell as much 7.5% to their lowest level in over a month. AMP…