Risk back on the menu 4:59pm: Anchorage Capital Partners is exploring a potential IPO for retailer Dick Smith Electronics and has appointed Goldman Sachs and Macquarie Group to advise it on a listing and other strategic options, sources familiar with the matter say. 4:44pm: And as we head into the evening, here's one for beer nostalgics: in the David-and-Goliath battle over the ownership of a portfolio of heritage Australian beer labels, Goliath has won. Ballart Bitter, Richmond Larger and Bulimba Pale Ale. Supplied. 4:31pm: Tokyo stocks have closed flat as late profit-taking erased early gains, after a strong two-day rally driven by upbeat Chinese economic data and Japan's winning bid to host the 2020 Olympics. The Nikkei 225 index edged up 0.01 per cent, or 1.71 points, to 14,425.07. Meanwhile, European and Wall Street futures are trading flat. 4:26pm: Meanwhile, in commercial property land: Brisbane's struggling commercial real estate market is on the brink of disaster, a leading economist has warned. Frank Gelber, an economic analyst from research firm BIS Shrapnel, predicted the city's already extensive network of vacant inner city offices will increase in coming years. "It's going to be a disaster in the office market," he said. Gelber said with office supply already far outstripping demand and construction started on three further inner city high rises, vacancy rates could skyrocket in the next five years. "If you're talking boom and bust, this is a bust," he said. 4:25pm: More fuel for rising house prices: almost half of Gen-Y women say owning their own home is their number one goal, according to an online Westpac survey of more than 1500 Australia. Home ownership ranked above having children and getting married, which trailed behind at 14 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. ""It seems it is only once they are comfortable with their financial position that they are ready to look at other lifetime priorities,"" she said. 4:19pm: The stock market has closed higher, as positive global and local economic data continues to lift investor spirits. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index rose 33.2 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 5234.4, while the broader All Ords gained 31.7 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 5230.6. Today's close is the highest for both indices since June 2008. The 2013 intra-day high of the ASX is 5249.6, which it hit on May 15. 3:48pm: Goldman Sachs has cut its 12-month forecast for commodity returns, predicting a decline in precious metals, agriculture and energy. The bank kept its neutral recommendation on raw materials. The Standard & Poor's GSCI Enhanced Commodity Index will drop 2 per cent, compared with an increase of 0.1 per cent expected in July, analysts said in a report today. Energy, with a 73.5 per cent weighting, will probably fall 1 per cent, while precious metals slide 15 per cent and agriculture declines 7 per cent, they said. Industrial metals may increase 2 per cent. JPMorgan Chase said last week it turned overweight on commodities because of an improvement in manufacturing, better demand and more optimism over China. 3:40pm: If you believe the iron ore price isn't about to collapse, Motley Fool reckons it's worth taking a closer look at BC Iron: In the 2013 financial year BC Iron delivered a nice surprise to shareholders, announcing a 30 cent final dividend, to go with the 5 cent dividend it paid out earlier this year. At the current price of $4.27, that equates to a dividend yield of 8.2%, or a grossed up dividend yield of 11.7%. It's also more than double the 15 cents BC Iron paid out to shareholders last year. That came as the iron ore producer reported another strong year with underlying profit rising 41% to $71.4 million, on the back of record full year production. 3:21pm: America's economic growth is built on sand, Robin Harding writes in an op-ed piece in the FT: Twelve weeks in to his presidency, when the Great Recession was at its darkest and he was still the embodiment of hope, Barack Obama gave a speech about rebuilding and rebalancing the US economy. In the biblical mode that suits him so well, Mr Obama told a parable from the Sermon on the Mount about the foolish man who built his house on sand and the wise man who built his house on rock. Four years on, that rebalancing has stalled; the US is building again, but on foundations of sand. It is depressing to consider, but on its current path the US is headed back to the same economic structure as before the recession: driven by consumption and sucking in imports. These are the first steps towards a future crisis. 2:54pm: Australia's biggest and most expensive law suit, the Bell Group case, is poised to reach settlement rather than have its final day in court, the AFR writes. A settlement would likely leave a consortium of 20 banks including Westpac, NAB and CBA to pay a compensation bill totalling over $1.58 billion. That was the sum ordered after the case was first heard in 2008. The liability for each of those three banks has been estimated by governance advisers Ownership Matters as between $250 million and $300 million. Bank analysts believe Westpac, NAB and CBA have already set aside provisions to fully pay for the case. The High Court hearing was due to commence this week but the parties have instead vacated the hearing and have asked for a six-month adjournment to allow for settlement negotiations. A source close to those talks said no settlement deal has been agreed but suggested it was likely the case would be resolved. 2:48pm: Gold slipped to a three-week today before recovering on bargain hunting, but the precious metal is losing its safe-haven appeal for investors on hopes a US military strike against Syria could be averted. Spot gold hit a low of $US1 356.85 an ounce, its weakest since August 22, and is now steady at $US1364. The Fed's three quantitative easing schemes have buoyed prices of gold and other commodities. Gold, which has fallen more than 18 per cent this year, is also being hurt by expectations the US Federal Reserve will opt to taper its monetary stimulus programme after the Fed's Open Market Committee meeting on September 17-18. "It's really a confluence of three things," says Mark Keenan, a cross-commodity research strategist at Societe Generale in Singapore. Currency weakness, specifically in India, the tapering that we believe will be announced in (FOMC) meeting, and a slight deterioration in the requirement of having a safe haven in the light of these strikes in Syria possibly being averted. 2:15pm: Southeastern Asset Management has acquired a 12 per cent voting stake in News Corp, making it the largest holder behind chairman Rupert Murdoch. Southeastern's 23.8 million-share Class B stake is valued at about $US397 million, based on the closing price of $US16.72. The holding accounts for about a 4.1 per cent economic interest in News Corp, the publishing business split off in June from Murdoch's film and television interests. Southeastern, led by O. Mason Hawkins, has no plans to influence News Corp, according to a US regulatory filing today. The investment company has occasionally tried to sway management and allied with activist investor Carl Icahn in opposing Michael Dell's $US24.9 billion plan to buy out Dell Inc. Icahn dropped his opposition to the deal yesterday. 1:28pm: Australia has the world's third-longest life expectancy. Fit and healthy octogenarians are bad news for many who, if only in the back of their mind, are totting up their share of Mum and Dad's estate. Advice from financial advisers is blunt - "stop worrying about the inheritance and work on building up your own portfolios." 1:08pm: The Australian dollar is nudging 93 cents in early afternoon trade after dropping from a three-month high of 93.18 cents in the morning. Easy Forex currency dealer Tony Darvall said the mid-morning fall was surprising, as the Westpac Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment showed consumer confidence was at a three-year high ""It's just profit taking for the time being and the market getting caught a little long above 93 US cents, but nothing serious, so we should see support stabilise around 92.80 cents,"" Mr Darvall said. ""Most people think there's a good chance we're going higher given the Syria risk reduction and the China improvement and the election risk over."" 12:53pm: Australian outsourcing firm Freelancer.com is close to hitting the jackpot with several companies pursuing its acquisition, including a $US400 million ($430 million) offer. Freelancer chief executive Matt Barrie, 40, is seriously considering the offers made within the last several weeks, but is unlikely to accept any of them, sources say. It is understood that Barrie, who is based in Sydney, wants to continue to grow the business and then list on a stock exchange. 12:45pm: Non-bank lender Resimac has described a rival offer for residential lender RHG as inferior, highly conditional and not in the interests of the target's shareholders. Resimac is competing with Pepper Australia to buy RHG, the rump of non-bank lender RAMS, which was a competitor to the big banks before the global financial crisis. Pepper Australia and Cadence Capital - which have a 17 per cent stake in its target - this week raised the cash component of its bid by 1 cent a share. The offer now comprises 36 cents a share in cash and one share in listed fund manager Cadence Capital for every 10 RHG shares. But Resimac said in a statement today that Pepper's revised offer pushed RGH shareholders into accepting shares in Cadence, which is not well traded. 12:27pm: Oil prices are down for a third day after President Barack Obama called for a pause on authorising a military strike on Syria, easing concern that a conflict will disrupt Middle East oil exports. WTI declined as much as 86 cents to $US106.53, while Brent slipped 23 cents, or 0.2 per cent, to $US111.02 a barrel. Obama said in a televised speech that he asked Congress to delay a vote on the use of military force while the administration pursues a Russian proposal for Syria to surrender its chemical arms. ""It's all about President Obama's speech,"" says David Lennox, a resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney. ""That's removed some of that uncertainty surrounding a US strike and what the retaliation might be. The market will remain volatile once it gets over the news that there's not going to be an attack tomorrow, but it's still potentially there."" 12:20pm: An internet petition set up by a Liberal-voting student to save Labor's national broadband network (NBN) has become Australia's largest ever online petition. The internet appeal is roaring along, but still has some way to go before becoming Australia's largest ever petition, which was submitted to federal parliament with 792,985 signatures in 2000 calling for an end to rising beer prices. The NBN petition calls on the incoming coalition government to scrap its plans to create a fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) network in place of Labor's existing fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) approach. Created by Queenslander Nick Paine on Change.org less than five days ago, the petition overtook Australia's previous biggest online petition just after 11am today with 116,281 signatures. The prior one had 116,280 names. That's one signature every 3.5 seconds. 12:14pm: Japan's Nikkei is trading at a seven-week high, following the yen's slide against the US dollar, with easing worries over Syria and upbeat Chinese data aiding sentiment. The index, up 0.7 per cent, has climbed 4.1 per cent over the past two trading days, buoyed by euphoria over Tokyo's winning bid for the 2020 Olympics and Japan's strong second-quarter growth. "Global investors have turned to risk-on on the back of rising hopes for a diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis, which drove the yen lower (to the dollar) and sent stock higher," says Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Asset Management. ""Although some Olympics-related shares were hit by profit-taking today, hosting the (2020 Summer) Games itself is a positive for Japanese stocks in the long term. It really changed the momentum of the market. 12:09pm: Orica is selling 13 hectares of vacant prime industrial land opposite the recently privatised Port Botany and nearby Sydney Airport and major road and rail infrastructure. A price tag of about $50 million was proffered by agents. Southlands is viewed as one of the most strategic industrial land holdings in the south Sydney market, and is located at McPherson Street Banksmeadow, within the Botany Bay Local Government area. Orica shares are up 0.8 per cent. 12:06pm: Around midday, the ASX has lost a bit of its early momentum but is still up 0.4 per cent, buoyed by yesterday's strong Chinese data and as Syrian tensions eased further. Analysts say the new developments in Syria reduce risk for financial markets as Syria has accepted a Russian proposal to give up its chemical weapons to win a reprieve from US military strikes. "Risk appetite has improved," says Tim Radford, global analyst at Rivkin Securities in a note to clients. It could continue improving, as investors stop worrying about Syria and next week's FOMC meeting amid an absence of important economic news in the near-term. 11:55am: Personal finance loans were up 7 per cent in July, but business loans are struggling. Personal finance commitments, seasonally-adjusted, rose to $8.070 billion in July, from $7.539 billion in June, the ABS says. Total commercial loans in July fell 10.5 per cent to $31.976 billion, from $35.709 billion in June and lease finance was down 8.4 per cent to $471 million, compared with $514 million the previous month. Housing finance for owner occupiers was virtually unchanged at $15.391 billion, from $15.383 billion the month before, despite the recent rise in the property market. 11:46am: Property group Charter Hall has agreed to buy two Westfield shopping centres in Perth's north-west for $255 million. But the deal to acquire the Innaloo Shopping Centre and Shoppers Village, and the adjoining Innaloo Mega Centre, is conditional on the Westfield Group and Westfield Trust changing its ownership of the Karrinyup shopping centre, in Perth's north, before Christmas. Charter Hall said that if Westfield takes up the option, the Innaloo properties would be held within a newly established unlisted wholesale trust. The trust would be 85 per cent owned by an institutional partner and the remaining 15 per cent would be owned by the Charter Hall Group. 11:36am: One of the reasons for the market's recent rally has been an easing of tensions over Syria, and after President Obama's much anticipated TV speech, a US military strike is looking even less likely. In his address, Obama pulled the US from the brink of a military strike against Syria to pursue ""encouraging signs"" of a possible diplomatic solution to the confrontation over the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons. In the nationally televised speech from the White House that attempted to navigate between international calls for action and a war-weary public back at home, Obama said he's asked Congress to delay a vote authorising the use of military force while the administration pursues a proposal that would have Syria surrender its chemical arms. ""We will work together in consultation with Russia and China at the UN Security Council"" to get rid of Syrian chemical weapons and to ""ultimately destroy them under international control,"" Obama said. 11:24am: Another potential party spoiler: the United States could default on its obligations as early as October 18 if Washington fails to agree on legislation to raise the government's borrowing cap, a new study predicts. The Bipartisan Policy Centre analysis says the default date would come no later than November 5 and that the government would quickly fall behind on its payments, including Social Security benefits and military pensions. The government has never defaulted on its obligations. Raising the $US16.7 trillion borrowing cap promises to be a major struggle for House Republicans and President Barack Obama.