Australian Stock Market Report –Afternoon December 3, 2014

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange July 17, 2014. U.S. stocks fell sharply lower on Thursday, with the S&P 500 posting its biggest one-day percentage drop since April 10 on news that a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet crashed near the Ukraine-Russia border. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 161.39 points or 0.94 percent, to end at 16,976.81. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Reuters/Brendan McDermid

 Australian shares maintained most of their gains with the ASX 200 Index rising by 0.8 per cent; trading above 5300pts and adding to yesterday's 1.4 per cent surge. Energy and mining sectors improved by between 0.7 per cent and 1.2 per cent despite a slump in oil, gold and iron ore prices.

 Mining and energy stocks defied the weaker commodity prices to be among the best improvers on Wednesday. The price of iron ore and gold fell by close to 1.5 per cent while oil slumped by a more significant 3.1 per cent.

 Suncorp (SUN) edged higher and said it has received approximately 24,500 home, motor and commercial claims after Thursday's Brisbane storms. SUN has a $595m allowance for natural hazards in FY15.

 Qantas (QAN) returned to the winner's column thanks to a slump in oil overnight. There have been some calls for QAN to cut its fuel surcharges which are estimated to contribute as much as $1.8bn to its top line; around 12 per cent of total revenue.

 Woolworths (WOW) has announced the purchase of Summergate Fine Wine & Spirits; a distributor of alcoholic beverages across China. WOW owns Dan Murphy's, BWS and Cellermaster brands.

 Ten Network (TEN) confirmed it has received a number of takeover offers. An independent committee of its Board will now consider the proposals. TEN shares slumped by 6.2 per cent regardless; taking the losses this calendar year to 20 per cent.

 ASX Limited (ASX), the operator of Australia's primary stock exchange said that 15 companies made their market debuts in November; twice as many as this time last year.

 Volume was above average with 1.6bn shares worth $5bn. 500 stocks finished higher, 430 down and 330 flat. September quarter GDP was significantly weaker than expected with economic growth of just 0.3 per cent between July and September. This takes GDP over the past year to 2.7 per cent; a touch below the decade average.

 The Australian dollar weakened following the softer than expected GDP read earlier today to US$0.84, €0.679, ¥100.1 and £0.537. Weaker commodity prices - in particular the slump in oil prices has pushed the Australian dollar from a high of US$0.861 hit last Thursday to a low of US$0.839.

 Tonight an update on retail spending in Europe will be a highlight at 9pm (AEDT) in the EU. The beige book, a wrap of conditions in Federal Reserve districts will be a highlight together with the US ADP national employment report for Nov. This is a precursor to the more important and influential non-farm payrolls due for release on Friday night. There are likely to have been around 235,000 private sector jobs created last month.

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