澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-05-15（在线收听）

G7 finance ministers have held a telephone conference to discuss the Greek debt crisis in efforts to stabilize the euro. Traders in the Asian market were unconvinced that Europe's economic problems have been laid to rest by one-trillion-dollar rescue package, put together by the EU and the IMF. This caused the euro to plummet to an 18-month low against the US dollar.

The cement industry has become the latest group to express concern over the Federal Government's proposed mining tax.The Government wants to put a 40 percent levy on mining profits, while the Opposition has vowed to oppose it in the Senate. But there are concerns that some companies producing construction materials such as concrete and gravel will be forced out of the market by the new tax.

To the markets now, and stocks on Wall Street have finished the week in the red. The Dow shed 1.5 percent. And the NASDAQ plunged nearly 2 percent. European markets also took a pounding. The FTSE lost more than 3 percent. And the Euro Stoxx nosedived, close to 5 percent. The Australian market closed weaker with the All Ords and the ASX 200 both losing almost 1 percent.

And checking currencies, the Australian dollar is down slightly against the greenback buying 88.6 US cents.

And that's ABC Business News.