The Australian share market gained for the second straight day Tuesday, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) up 0.6 pct or 25.4 pts to 4359.1. The vast majority of sectors are trading higher, with the financials index up over 1 pct at lunch.

Australia's second largest miner, RIO Tinto (RIO) is up 1.84 pct or $1.30 to $71.91 while the larger BHP Billiton (BHP) is 0.84 pct or 33 cents higher to $39.48.

The price of gold dropped slightly with an element of confidence returning to the market for the time being. Australia's largest gold producer, Newcrest Mining (NCM) is down 1.42 pct or 57 cents to $39.50.

The big four banks are all higher, with ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) currently the best, up 1.88 pct or 38 cents to $20.59, National Australia Bank (NAB) is 1.62 pct or 38 cents higher to $23.82, Westpac (WBC) is stronger by 1.27 pct or 26 cents to $20.68 and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is up 0.94 pct or 45 cents to $48.41.

Several companies are issuing their profit results today; with specialty retailer Harvey Norman (HVN) the biggest name to do so. HVN posted a full year net profit result of $252.3 million and also declared a final dividend of 6 cents per share. HVN shares are up 2.46 pct or 5 cents to $2.08.

Coal miner and explorer Macarthur Coal (MCC) is up 0.51 pct or 8 cents to $15.88 after recommending a revised $4.8 billion joint takeover bid to its shareholders today. MCC shares have gained 45 pct over the past two months.

Following the end of daylight savings in April this year, major Asian markets will be trading between the hours mentioned below until mid-October.

The Hong Kong sharemarket trades in two sessions each day and will now be opening for trade between 11.30am (AEST) and 2pm (AEST) and then between 3.30pm (AEST) and 6pm (AEST) in its second session.

Out of Japan, the first session will be between 10am (AEST) and 12pm (AEST), while the second session is between 1.30pm (AEST) and 4pm (AEST).

The Singapore exchange will be open for trade between 11am (AEST) and 2.30pm (AEST) for the first session and then between 4pm (AEST) and 7pm (AEST) in its second session.

The major Asian markets are mostly stronger, with Japan's Nikkei 225 index up 1.4 pct or 123.67 pts to 8975.02, Hong Kong's Hang Seng is 1.61 pct or 318.99 pts higher to 20184.1 and South Korea's KOSPI index is up 0.65 pct or 11.83 pts to 1841.33.

On the economic front today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released a report which showed that the number of building approvals granted by councils to developers has gained by 1 pct, which was lower than what the market was looking for.

Out of Asia, Japan's unemployment rate has edged higher to 4.7 pct and retail sales have dropped by 0.7 pct over the past 12 months.

So far today, 1.2 billion shares have been traded worth $1.91 billion. 567 shares are up, 285 are lower and 337 are currently unchanged.

One of the better performing shares Tuesday (in percentage terms) is Virgin Blue (VBA), which is up 5.36 pct or 1.5 cents to 29.5 cents. VBA is Australia's second largest airline behind Qantas (QAN), and is not operating under the name of Virgin Australia. The company was first listed in 2003 and has a market capitalisation (current share price multiplied by the number of shares on issue by the company) of $652 million.

The Australian dollar is stronger and buys US106.7 cents.

Enjoy your day.

Steven Daghlian
Commsec Market Analyst