SYDNEY: Australian employment fell sharply for a second month in September as coronavirus lockdowns forced firms to lay off workers, while the jobless rate was held down by another big drop in the number of people looking for work. Policy makers are counting on a recovery in coming months as rapid progress in vaccinations has allowed restrictions to ease in Sydney, with Melbourne and Canberra soon to follow. Relief was sorely needed with yesterday’s data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics(

, sending the euro to its lowest in nearly three months and the Aussie down over 1%, not helped by

). Aussie three-year sovereign yields jumped as much as 11 basis points( bps) to 2.33%, the highest

FANS have been left devastated after a popular Aussie tourist attraction faces being closed for

SYDNEY: Australia’s women cricketers will get a pay rise this year, administrators said while admitting that wages will still fall well short of the men’s game.... “ When you properly invest in female sport the results follow and everyone benefits — the game, the fans and the players, ” she said.... Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said the increase was a step forward....

SYDNEY: Commonwealth Bank of Australia( CBA), the country’s largest lender, has announced a record A$ 6bil( US$ 4. 41bil or RM18. 69bil) share buyback as an economic rebound from the pandemic pushed its annual cash profit up almost a fifth. Australia’s early control of the pandemic in 2020 and the resulting swift economic rebound have driven property prices and credit growth higher, boosting banks coffers. But a re-emergence of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus and ongoing l

PETALING JAYA: Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd’s associate company, 3D Oil Ltd( TDO) has secured a VIC/ P79 exploration permit for offshore Otway Basin in Australia from National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator. Hibiscus’ unit Oceania Hibiscus Sdn Bhd holds an 11.7% equity in TDO.In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Hibiscus said the 2, 576 square km permit is located next to the largest gas fields in the offshore Otway Basin, Thylacine and Geographe which contains the highly prospective Vanguard Pro

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ferrovial Construction Australia and Gamuda Australia Joint Venture( FGJV) has been been awarded a A$ 1. 35bil( US$ 936mil or RM4. 12bil) design and construct contract by the New South Wales( NSW) government to deliver the main package of works for the Coffs Harbour Bypass project. The Coffs Harbour Bypass will reduce travel times along the Pacific Highway by 12 minutes, bypassing 12 sets of traffic lights. The project is funded by the Australian and NSW governments to improve

SYDNEY: Citigroup Inc, which typically advises the world’s biggest companies, is hunting for smaller clients in Australia, targeting businesses with revenue of as little as A$ 75mil( US$ 53mil or RM225. 19mil) to get a competitive advantage in major deals down the track. The United States lender, which set up a commercial-banking business in Australia in 2019, is planning to expand its team to 35 by the end of 2024 from 22 currently, according to Alex Syhanath, head of the local unit. The aim is

SYDNEY: A measure of Australian consumer sentiment inched higher in November as optimism on the economy just outweighed worries about personal finances, while the outlook on employment took a marked turn for the better. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute index of consumer sentiment released yesterday added 0.6% in November from October, when it dipped 1.5%. The index reading was down 2.2% on November last year, though at 105.3 it meant optimists still outnumbered pessimists. Westpac chief economist