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Asset manager First Sentier Investors, better remembered as Colonial First State Global Asset Management, is closing four funds, axing 30 staff and handing $14bn back to clients.

Meanwhile, RAMS Home Loans appears to be unloved by the market - or at least not at the right price - and, as a result, Westpac has scrapped its plan to offload it.

And the NSW Independent Casino Commission has decided Crown Sydney is suitable to retain its full operating licence but will closely monitor the operations.

The Australian sharemarket advanced for a second consecutive day , ahead of Wednesday's key inflation data. The benchmark ASX 200 finished the day 0.5 per cent stronger at 7683.5 points. The broader All Ordinaries also gained 0.5 per cent to 7937.9 points.

The Big Read

A controversial South Australian resources project, which was once touted as a potential major contributor to the eastern states gas market and the “largest gas reserve for commercial use” in the state, has had its aspirations hit with a significant delay – in a move certain to be cheered by its opponents, who’d like to see the project killed off forever.

It’s the latest development in a long and winding road for ASX-listed entity NeuRizer, which has set numerous deadlines over the past decade for what was at one stage going to be an enormous gas project, and has morphed in later years into a urea project aiming to feed into the fertiliser market.

Those deadlines, which initially foresaw gas production at least five years ago, have not been met, and the company’s ability to continue as a going concern is at risk, with the company more than $50m in debt and the share price languishing below 1c..

Cameron England

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