Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon 4-11-13

AFTERNOON REPORT
(5pm AEST)

Australian shares advanced today, following record highs recorded overnight on the US Dow Jones and S&P 500 Indices.

The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) added 36.6pts by close, to close above the 5000pt level for the first time since 27th March.

Financial stocks posted solid gains, with the sector firmer by 1.3 per cent. Shares in Westpac (WBC) were the best out of the big four in percentage terms.

Mining stocks lagged, with the sector lower by 0.7 per cent.

Supermarket giant Woolworths (WOW) released its third quarter sales today, reporting a 2.5 per cent increase in sales to $14.4 billion, despite challenging retail conditions. Its core Australian food and liquor operations, which include the Woolworths supermarket chain, increased third quarter sales by 5.6 per cent to $9.9 billion. WOW added 1.4 per cent by close to $34.47.

In economic news today, employment fell by 36,200 in March after lifting by 74,000 jobs in February (previously reported as up 71,500). Economists had expected a fall of 10,000 in jobs in March. The unemployment rate rose from 5.4 per cent to 5.6 per cent in March - a three and a half year high. The participation rate eased from 65.3 per cent to 65.1 per cent.

CommSec Economist Savanth Sebastian said of the data, "The latest weakness in the employment growth is likely to turnaround in coming months. Housing, retail industries and other consumer-focussed sectors are starting to see an improvement in activity levels. And the Reserve Bank looks likely to comfortably remain on the interest rate sidelines over the next couple of months."

1.7 billion shares changed hands today, worth $4.3 billion. 489 were up, 447 were down and 343 were unchanged.

At 4.30pm AEST the SFE 200 Futures market was at 5010, up 46pts.

Ahead tonight, the import price index is released in the US.

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