Gina Rinehart stepping down from Ten board; NSW overtakes WA as Australia’s strongest economy: Midday Roundup

Gina Rinehart plans to step down from the Ten board but will not relinquish her 10% stake in the company.

Fairfax reports that Rinehart, who is Australia’s wealthiest person and Ten’s second biggest shareholder, is pulling back from her non-mining investments to focus on her $11.43 billion Roy Hill iron ore project. The mine is expected to start exporting late next year.

It is believed Rinehart remains interested in her investment in the free-to-air broadcaster, and made her intention to stand down due to other commitments.

Ten posted a $168 million loss last week, a 40% improvement from the previous financial year.

NSW overtakes WA as Australia’s strongest economy

New South Wales has overtaken Western Australia as the country’s best-performing economy, according to CommSec’s quarterly State of the States report.

It is the first time NSW has come out on top since mid-2011, according to Business Spectator.

New South Wales saw a 32.1% jump in population growth this quarter, along with the second strongest level of retail spending. CommSec economists Craig James and Savanth Sabastian told Business Spectator this was the reason behind the state’s strong results.

“NSW is currently playing catch-up after years of under-building, where demand for homes exceeded supply, pushing the rental vacancy rate to record lows,” they said.

WA came in as the second-best performing state, followed by the Northern Territory, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, the ACT and Tasmania.

Shares up on open

Aussie shares are up this morning after international markets returned to positive territory.

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was up 52 points to 5323.7 at 12:15pm AEDT. On Thursday, the Dow Jones closed up 263.17 points, rising 1.63 % to 16,380.41.