The Australian sharemarket is having a very tough day today after receiving a weak lead from global markets overnight. The All Ordinaries index (XAO) is down 1.7 pct or 81.9 pts to 4706.7. All sectors are currently lower, with the financials, miners and energy stocks the worst.

The four major banks are down between 1.5 pct and 5.5 pct today, with National Australia Bank (NAB) the worst. The NAB is down 5.56 pct or $1.45 to $24.62 after going ex-dividend today. For those who do not know what this means, you would have had to purchase NAB shares no later than yesterday and held them up until at least today to be eligible to receive their next distribution to shareholders. NAB is paying out an 84 cent a share dividend on July 6.

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Australia’s largest miners are not being spared from the falls, with the BHP Billiton (BHP) down 1.8 pct or 80 cents to $43.72 while RIO Tinto (RIO) is pulling back by 1.81 pct or $1.48 to $80.07. BHP and RIO are Australia’s two biggest miners and both are in the top 3 globally.

The price of oil fell by close to 2.5 pct to US$100.29 a barrel overnight off the back of weaker than expected U.S economic data. The country’s second largest oil and gas producer, Woodside Petroleum (WPL) is down 1.76 pct or 82 cents to $45.89 while Santos (STO) is down a more significant 2.9 pct or 43 cents to $14.39.

The retailers are slightly lower, with department store owner David Jones (DJS) down 1.67 pct or 7 cents to $4.12, while its competitor Myer (MYR) is off by 1.41 pct or 4 cents to $2.79. Australia’s largest specialty retailer, Harvey Norman (HVN) is down 1.2 pct or 3 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.

After mixed performances yesterday, Asian markets are mostly lower at lunch with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index down 1.78 pct or 173.4 pts to 9546.21, the South Korean KOSPI index is 1.13 pct or 24.12 pts lower to 2117.22 and China’s Shanghai Composite index is trading relatively flat.

Yesterday, the Australian economy contracted over the March quarter (January to March 2011) as expected. Today, the latest data on retail sales and the country’s latest trade balance were both released. Retail sales came in better than expectations while the trade balance numbers were lower than the market was forecasting.

The best performing stock at lunch is Renison Consolidated (RSN) which is up 50 pct or 0.1 cents to 0.3 cents. RSN is a small mineral explorer based in Queensland. It was first listed in 1987 and has a market capitalisation of $7.5 million.

So far today, 988 million shares have been traded worth $2.11 billion. 168 shares are up, 809 are lower and 323 are currently unchanged. Based on activity at lunch, the dollar value of shares traded today should remain solid.

The Australian dollar is stronger and buys US106.4 cents.

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