NSW: The main stories in today s Sydney newspapers = 3

AAP General News (Australia)
12-05-2000
NSW: The main stories in today s Sydney newspapers = 3

The Australian Financial Review



Page 1: Job advertisements in November suffered the biggest monthly fall in a decade,
providing further evidence that the economy is slowing and raising expectations that interest
rates will fall next year. Two federal ministers were yesterday dragged into the growing
electoral rorts affair, as the ALP sought to embarrass the Howard Government with counter-allegations
of electoral roll and payments irregularities. BHP has dumped the financial hedging policy
that delivered more than $1 billion in foreign currency profits in the 1990s but cost
the company in the past year when it failed to maximise earnings from the sharp fall in
the Australian dollar.

Page 3: A battle for control of one of Australia's biggest industry superannuation
funds has spilled over into the Supreme Court, with the Master Builders Association trying
to deny a group of major construction companies influence on the Construction & Building
Unions Superannuation Fund Board.

World: Japan is likely to meet its official forecast of 1.5 per cent growth in the
fiscal year ending March 2001, however a self-sustaining recovery remains far from certain.

Business: BHP conceded yesterday what diversified resource rivals Rio Tinto and WMC
have known for some time: investors are attracted to the strength of a company's corporate
strategies, not the certainty of its earnings, locked in by currency and commodity hedging
activities.

Markets: A broad shift in investment strategy among Australian investors has underpinned
a massive flow of funds towards defensive sectors of the market over the past year.

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KEYWORD: FRONTERS NSW 3 SYDNEY

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