Western Australia's premier is set to finally reveal when the state's borders will open, ending months of speculation and frustration for locked-out families.
Australia's share market had its best day in more than two months as investors lapped up supportive central bank decisions and became less concerned by the Omicron variant.
Supermarkets and gold stocks proved the safe choices on the Australian market as a flagging dollar added interest to Reserve Bank commentary on Tuesday.
Engineering contractor Monadelphous Group has been cut from the ASX200 in an S&P Dow Jones rebalance, while a new discovery propels Liontown to the top end of the market.
Job advertising has risen sharply as COVID-19 lockdowns eased and suggests the unemployment rate will be back below five per cent in the near term after the unexpected spike to 5.2 per cent in October.
Energy shares and the oil price had an end-of-week surge but the Omicron coronavirus threat sent the Australian market to its fourth consecutive week of decline.
ASX investors are proving resilient to overseas gloom about earlier stimulus-tapering and Omicron after a second consecutive afternoon rally cut losses.
Global car rental giant Europcar has expanded its footprint in Western Australia after signing a long-term franchise agreement with Bassendean-based Aus Fleet Solutions Group.
A second-half rally on the Australian share market has almost overcome jitters about the prospect of earlier tapering of stimulus in the US and the latest coronavirus variant.
A late slide on the ASX has muted an Omicron recovery while more nations including Australia paused overseas arrivals due to the latest coronavirus strain.
Australian company profits rose four per cent in the September quarter despite the nation being in the thick of a series of COVID-19 restrictions, which saw half the population in lockdown.
Australian shares have recorded their biggest slide in nearly two months amid rising concerns that a new coronavirus variant will affect global reopening prospects.
