Markets Live: Telstra, Westpac buck trend 5:10pm: The Australian dollar held its ground in subdued trade today as most of Asia was shut for a holiday, even after Chinese data added to signs of cooling growth in the world's second biggest economy. With many centres in Europe closed as well for the May 1 Labour Day holiday and key events including policy decisions by the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank due in the next 48 hours, nobody wanted to take big positions. That saw the Aussie drift in a slim range around $US1.0360, not far off a two-week high of $US1.0386 set overnight. It's currently trading at $US1.0355. Investors were betting the Fed will recommit to its aggressive easing program, with a chance of expanding it even. "The FOMC is likely to acknowledge the weakness in the labour market data since the last meeting and the continued decline in underlying inflation," Barclays Capital analysts Ajay Rajadhyaksha and Dean Maki wrote in a note. Recent FOMC meetings have focused on when to taper asset purchases, but given the recent data, attention may now shift to the potential for further accommodation. 4:47pm: Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is in focus after a key shareholder, BRED Banque Populaire, dumped its $350 million stake in fellow regional lender Bank of Queensland on Tuesday. 4:10pm: Telstra, which maintained its full-year earnings guidance today, says it is aiming to lift dividends over time, pushing its shares above $5.00. Telstra deputy chief financial officer Mark Hall told a Macquarie Australia equities conference in Sydney today that it expects to pay fully franked dividends totalling 28 cents per share in fiscal 2013, in line with prior years. ""We have continued revenue, profit and customer growth,"" Hall said. ""Our strategic focus remains unchanged, and, most importantly, we are on track for full-year guidance."" Hall said the unchanged guidance for 2013 included low single-digit growth for both total income and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation), and a capex (capital expenditure) to sales ratio of 15 per cent. Telstra's outlook for EBITDA growth was at the top end of its guidance range. Telstra aimed to ensure that its dividend remains fully franked, and subject to board approval, to increase it over time. 3:59pm: This morning the market was bracing itself for more disappointing Chinese manufacturing data, but the reading of the official PMI came in at 50.6, which was just below expectations but still above the critical 50 level that separates contraction from growth. The market hardly reacted, but there was a minor sigh of relief all around, considering the latest string of weakish economic data coming out of China. The currency market's reaction was also muted and the dollar is currently trading at $US1.0367, hardly changed from early this morning. 3:36pm: The departure of Alfredo Sáenz as chief executive of Banco Santander has shone a spotlight on a quirky remuneration detail - quite how generous the pension arrangements for Spain's top bankers are compared with the norm in the rest of the world, the Financial Times notes. As was pointed out on Monday when Mr Sáenz announced his departure from Santander, the 70-year-old will hardly miss his pay cheque, given the €88.2m pension pot he has to fall back on. But such arrangements are far from universal. Compare Mr Sáenz with the man who is generally acknowledged to be the best paid bank chief in the world - Goldman Sachs's Lloyd Blankfein - and the stark differences between the structure of top bankers" pay around the world is clear. While Mr Blankfein received $21m in salary and bonuses for 2012, his pension pot is minuscule - worth less than $34,000. 3:28pm: Australia's strong economic growth and low debt "should be the envy of many other nations," but the world's 12th biggest economy is distracted by an "odd mix of complacency and concern" about its economy, a year-long study finds. Dubbed the largest ever survey of Australia's competitiveness, the survey of nearly 6000 people finds a "country that is in the upper echelon of nations, but not on par with the world's best." "In broad terms, Australia does well in assessments of quality of life, political and social stability, ease of starting business, education, and some measures of capabilities," the report, by accounting body CPA Australia, said. On the other hand, it does not compare well in terms of links to the global economy, infrastructure, complexity of taxes and regulations, brain drain, supply chains and industry clusters, business sophistication, tendency of companies and corporate activities to lead the nation, city competitiveness, and some dimension of costs. 3:13pm: Incomes in Australia's best-paid postcode - Sydney's Darling Point area - rose by more than $21,000 in 2010-11, the latest Tax Office figures show. The average male taxable income during 2011-12 was $63,000. 3:00pm: Treasurer Wayne Swan believes it would be a ""folly"" and extremely dangerous for Australia to intervene to curb the strength of the Australian dollar, despite its impact on company profits and government revenues. The domestic dollar has trading above parity against the US dollar for some time. Its continuing strength is a major factor in forcing the federal government to scale back its revenue expectations by $12 billion for this financial year. Mr Swan said the currency's strength was a reflection of the strength of the local economy as well as relative weakness in other countries such as the US. The dollar is currently worth $US1.0365. 2:50pm: Sydney Airport chief executive Kerrie Mather has confirmed that negotiations are underway with Qantas to acquire the terminal the airline company owns at Mascot airport. The Qantas lease over its Mascot terminal expires in 2019, at which time Sydney airport has the right to acquire the facility at a ""fair market rate."" ""Both agree we want to buy it before that time,"" Mather told a Macquarie investment conference today. ""Both agree we want to buy sooner rather than later."" "We'll be able to debt fund that given the assumed cash flow from day one," she said. Mather did not indicate a possible purchase price for the asset, which will run into several hundreds of millions of dollars although she did say that spending plans between 2013 and 2015 will total an estimated $700 million. Sydney airport is to release next month its updated master plan which is expected to detail some changes to the use of existing assets as well as updated transport plans for access to the airport. 2:38pm: Retailer Myer has warned the proposed increase to the Medicare levy will hurt sales at its stores, since it will affect its direct customer base. The federal government today confirmed it planned to increase the Medicare levy by half a percentage point, which will cost the average household at least $350 a year. The levy is to part-fund the proposed national disability insurance scheme (NDIS). The estimated $350 for the Medicare levy increase "is something they would have spent with us," Myer chief executive Bernie Brooks told a Macquarie Investment seminar earlier today. The proposed levy ""is not good for our customers and may have an impact"," Mr Brooks said. Overall, retail sales had not been as volatile this year as they were last year, he said. 2:29pm: Telstra shares have jumped above $5, trading at their highest level in almost eight years. It is one of the best-performing blue-chip stocks on the ASX so far this year. The telco's shares have surged 11 per cent since the Coalition announced its plan to build a cheaper version of the national broadband network. Most important for Telstra investors, the Coalition promised Telstra was still in line to receive an $11 billion windfall for disconnecting its copper network. The telco's performance looks even stronger over nearly two years. Its shares hit a historic low of $2.56 in mid-November 2010, but are trading at $5.01 this afternoon - an increase of nearly 100 per cent for those who caught the stock at the bottom. 2:14pm: Qantas has just released its preliminary traffic and capacity statistics for March. Overall passenger numbers are up, but this is due to increases on Jetstar flights, writes BusinessDay's Lucy Battersby. The domestic airline, including Qantas Link, flew 1.88 million passengers in March, down from 1.91 million in March 2012. And Qantas International flew 490,000, down from 511,000 last March. Qantas international passenger numbers for this financial year is running at 4.4 million, down from 4.6 million at the same point last year. But revenue seat factor for the financial year to date is up to 82.7 per cent from 82.2 per cent. Cut-price subsidiary Jetstar is doing much better, with a 6.8 per cent increase in domestic passenger numbers, up to 939,000 in March compared to 879,000 last year. Jetstar International and Jetstar Asia numbers are up nearly 11 per cent each. Overall the Qantas group has carried 36.5 million passengers since the start of this financial year, up from 35.3 million at the same period in 2012. Revenue seat factor is 80 per cent, slightly down from 80.5 per cent in 2012. Shares are down 2.1 per cent at $1.86. 2:06pm: Queensland could raise about $20 billion from asset sales and using public-private partnerships to upgrade electricity infrastructure, Premier Campbell Newman says. Former federal treasurer Peter Costello says the state has missed a ""big bang"" opportunity to pay down debt by ignoring some recommendations in his Commission of Audit Report. The state government has knocked back 25 per cent of the report's recommendations to raise the $25-$30 billion it says is needed to restore the state's triple-A credit rating. Mr Newman has baulked at selling electricity distributors but will consider seeking a mandate to offload the Queensland Investment Corporation and two electricity generators and lease out the ports of Gladstone and Townsville. 1:57pm: Australian building materials maker Boral is set to cut 100 more jobs on top of the job cuts already announced in January, to meet its cost-savings target in a subdued housing construction market. Boral, which had 14,740 employees as of June 2012, said in January that it would cut 700 jobs to reduce costs, affecting functional, operational support and managerial positions across the country. The company said the number of job losses was now firming up to 800, after it posted a half-year net loss of $25.3 million in February. "That 700 number is looking more like 800, so that will help to secure the 90 million dollars of saving," spokeswoman Kylie FitzGerald said. Boral said in January it expected the job cuts would save $90 million a year, with $37 million savings expected in the full year 2013. 1:51pm: There are three reasons West Australian Premier Colin Barnett wants to push ahead with acquiring land at James Price Point despite Woodside shelving its original plan for the Browse gas project. Mr Barnett said the Kimberley land had been valued at $30 million by the state's Valuer General, an amount the WA government would pay to traditional owners if it decided to proceed with the acquisition. That was likely, he confirmed on ABC Radio on Wednesday. ""I think it's got a lot of merit,"" he said. If Woodside chose to develop Browse Basin gas offshore using a floating LNG processing vessel, it would need a supply base, so that use was an option for James Price Point. ""There's also other LNG projects, not as well developed, but there's another two or three from different companies in that Browse area. 1:37pm: Is this the greatest Grange ever? Wine critic Campbell Mattinson who has tasted every vintage of the Penfolds classic rates the latest release. Read more, even if you don't have the necessary small change for a $785 bottle. And here's a video on the same topic: 1:07pm: BusinessDay's Clancy Yeates reports that ANZ's move to ramp up its dividend payments has sparked predictions that other lenders will follow and return a bigger slice of profits to shareholders. ANZ triggered a sector-wide rally yesterday when it increased dividends by 11 per cent to 73c a share, and said it would increase the dividend payout ratio towards the upper end of its 65 to 70 per cent range. While NAB, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank have already increased the share of profits paid as dividends in recent years, analysts say they may still look to eke out higher dividends. Morgan Stanley analyst Richard Wiles said the strength of the Commonwealth Bank's flagship retail business suggested it had scope to further increase its dividend payout ratio, which 75 per cent in the latest full year. Banks tend to have more capacity to pay dividends when credit growth is slow because there is less demand to hold capital against loans. ""In our view, CBA's mix of high returns, sub-system volume growth and franking credit generation means it could raise its payout ratio,"" Mr Wiles said in a note. 12:50pm: Japan Airlines will begin flying its Boeing 787 Dreamliners to Sydney in December, in a move which has it vying with Jetstar to launch flights of the new planes to Australia's gateway, writes BusinessDay's Matt O'Sullivan. As part of a rejig of its global network, Japan Airlines has announced that it will fly reamliners between Sydney and Tokyo's Narita Airport from December 2. They will replace its Boeing 777-200 aircraft on the daily run to Sydney - Japan Airlines" sole route to Australia. Japan Airlines plans to begin returning its fleet of Dreamliners to service from the start of June after ""confirming the safety and reliability of the aircraft"." The first routes for the 787s include Tokyo to Boston and San Diego in the US. Last month US regulators cleared the way for Dreamliners to be returned to service after approving a fix for the problem batteries on the state-of-the-art planes. 12:42pm: The embryonic housing market recovery has stumbled, with home values falling in most states last month, writes BusinessDay's Simon Johanson.