MIDDAY REPORT
(12.00pm AEST)

The Australian sharemarket is significantly lower at lunch, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) down 1.2 pct or 55.7 pts to 4660.3. Almost all sectors are trading in the red; however the country's largest telco, Telstra (TLS) is up 1 pct or 3 cents to $3.03 and is one of the day's better performers.

The world's largest miner, BHP Billiton (BHP) is down 1.49 pct or 67 cents to $44.28 while the smaller RIO Tinto (RIO) is 1.26 pct or $1.06 lower to $83.29. The world's fourth largest gold producer, Newcrest Mining (NCM) is up 0.03 pct or 1 cent to $38.80. Despite weaker commodity prices on Friday, the price of gold improved modestly.

The major banks are all trading in the red, with Westpac (WBC) down 1.89 pct or 42 cents to $21.81, National Australia Bank (NAB) 1.31 pct or 32 cents lower to $24.78, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) down 1.3 pct or 68 cents to $51.08, and ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) 1.28 pct or 28 cents weaker to $21.62.

The retailers are also struggling, with department store owner David Jones (DJS) down 0.73 pct or 3 cents to $4.06 and its competitor Myer (MYR) is off 0.74 pct or 2 cents to $2.65. Discount retailer JB Hi-Fi (JBH) is down 0.46 pct or 8 cents to $17.21 and Australia's largest specialty retailer Harvey Norman (HVN) is down by a more significant 2.36 pct or 6 cents to $2.48.

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 Asian sharemarkets are lower, with South Korea's KOSPI index down 0.88 pct or 19.15 pts to 2161.2, shares in Taiwan are down 0.71 pct and Japan's Nikkei 225 index is off 0.49 pct or 49.31 pts to 10088.42.

On the economic front today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its latest home lending figures which showed a lower than expected improvement in the monthly reading.

The best performing stock at lunch is Blaze International (BLZ), which is up 50 pct or 0.1 cent to 0.3 cents. BLZ is involved in mineral exploration with its main focus in Western Australia. BLZ was first listed on the ASX in 1996 and has a market capitalisation of $2.2 million.

So far today, 1.16 billion shares have been traded worth $1.4 billion. 285 shares are up, 569 are lower and 320 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar is weaker and currently buys US106.9 cents.

Steven Daghlian
Commsec Market Analyst