BHP Billiton will generate an astounding $37
billion in excess cash over the next five financial years, allowing the
company to buy back almost a quarter of its shares, according to a new
Deutsche Bank report, reports The Australian.

The Fin Review reports the federal government is planning a
comprehensive stocktake of all its laws and regulations to address a
“regulatory blow-out” that’s costing business billions of dollars a
year and constraining economic growth. Also in The AFR,
Australia’s stockbrokers and its biggest sharemarket-listed companies
are split over a plan to introduce a new code of conduct governing how
they deal with each other, which includes a proposal formally allowing
firms to vet research before it is released to the market.

If you are an average Australian shareholder, you will have been
encouraged by the June-year profits your companies have been
reporting, says Malcolm Maiden in The Smage. The most important thing is that the sky has not fallen in.
Ahead of the reporting season, there was a rash of profit
downgrades, but with a few exceptions there have been no nasty results surprises, and most
companies are reporting that the outlook for the new year is still
solid.

Australia could lose its place as the world’s second-largest
gold producer this year as the US ramps up production, reports The Age. As many
other resource areas boosted output to meet insatiable demand from
China and elsewhere, Australian output fell 3 per cent – from 273 tonnes to 265 tonnes – in the June
year.

And The SMH
reports that Qantas has not let its money-losing investment in Jetstar Asia
dampen its enthusiasm for setting up other low-cost airlines in the
region.