And the Australian dollar is worth just over 103 US this morning. It'll also buy you 65 British pence and 123 New Zealand dollars.

 

Federal independent MP Rob Oakeshott has urged the Treasurer Wayne Swan to show some courage and fix mining tax. Mr Swan has revealed the tax has raised 126 million dollars since July, well below the 2 billion dollars Treasury predicted it would raise in its first year. The Greens have labelled the figures “shockingly low” and are planning to move a bill in parliament next week to fix some of the loopholes. Mr Oakeshott says he's willing to support that bill, but he hopes Wayne Swan will take the lead. 

 

The French government says it has no plans to support ailing car maker Peugeot-Citroen with a stake purchase, cooling speculation of a state cash injection to help ease the company's problems.  The comments came a day after Peugeot wrote down the value of its assets by 4.1 billion Euros to reflect the worsening state of the car market. Peugeot is in the process of cutting 8,000 jobs to stem losses.