VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Australia's Hoyts Group said on Tuesday it has been sold by its private equity owner Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) to an investment vehicle set up by Chinese entrepreneur Sun Xishuang.

Asian share markets rallied on Thursday after U.S. stocks enjoyed their strongest session this year when the Federal Reserve sounded upbeat on the economy and promised to be patient in removing policy stimulus.

An uneasy calm settled on Asian markets on Wednesday as a brewing financial crisis in Russia and the rout in oil prices sent investors scurrying for the cover of top-rated bonds.

Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are amassing vast copper holdings in a push to capture a greater chunk of the $140 billion world market, apparently aiming to squeeze out high-cost producers just as they did in the global iron ore business.

Australia is experiencing a record-shattering boom in technology listings as start-ups starved of venture capital funding pursue backdoor listings, a trend that has regulators concerned companies are trying to take short cuts to get to market.

Australia's first initial public offering in a medicinal marijuana company is three times oversubscribed, giving high hopes to its founder's ambitions to become "the George Clooney of medicinal cannabis".

Australia is working on new drift modeling to expand the geographical area in which wreckage from missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 may come ashore, the Australian search coordinator said on Wednesday.

Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, one of the world's most wanted cyber fugitives, says his nearly three-year fight against extradition to the United States to face online piracy charges has left him broke.

Australia said on Sunday it would list state-owned health insurer Medibank Private Ltd (MPL.AX) with a market capitalization of A$5.679 billion ($4.9 billion), exceeding the top end of a range indicated in its IPO filing a month earlier.

China and New Zealand are to sign a deal which will make it easier to produce television content in the two countries, enabling the South Pacific island nation to showcase its natural landscape to lure more tourists.

Australia and India will push for a free trade pact, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday during a rare state visit to Canberra by an Indian leader.

Leaders from the G20 group of nations agreed on Sunday to boost flagging global growth, tackle climate change and crack down on tax avoidance but ties between the West and Russia plummeted to a new low over the crisis in Ukraine.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew emphasized to Japan's finance minister the need for Japan to use all three arrows of its economic recovery policy to escape deflation, a U.S. Treasury official said on Saturday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday said there had been a breakthrough in the Bali trade negotiations that might allow a deal to be finalised at the World Trade Organization.

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said on Sunday the Group of 20 countries will exceed a target to boost global growth by an additional 2 percentage points over the next five years.