Australian Stock Market Report – Midday 10/14/2011

MIDDAY REPORT (12pm AEDT)

The Australian sharemarket is pulling back for the second time this week, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) down 0.9 pct or 39.2 pts to 4266.8. Almost all sectors are lower with the defensive telecommunication sector one of the lone regions of the market to be gaining some ground. Telstra (TSL) is up 0.16 pct or 0.5 cent to $3.08.

The S&P/ASX 200 Materials index is down 1.87 pct or 221.6.7 pts to 11570.2, with Australia's largest miner BHP Billiton (BHP) down 2.26 pct or 85 cents to $36.79 while the diversified mining giant RIO Tinto (RIO) 1.73 pct or $1.20 weaker to $68.13.

The country's largest gold producer, Newcrest Mining (NCM) is down 1.2 pct or 44 cents to $36.12, while the second biggest oil and gas company in Australia, Woodside Petroleum (WPL) is 1.72 pct or 61 cents weaker to $34.89.

The S&P/ASX 200 Financials index is easing by 0.63 pct or 25.1 pts to 3988, with all the majors trading in the red. Westpac (WBC) is 0.41 pct or 9 cents lower to $21.66, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is down 0.23 pct or 11 cents to $47.47, ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) is 0.09 pct or 2 cent weaker to $21.08 while National Australia Bank (NAB) is down 0.04 pct or 1 cent to $24.33.

Qantas (QAN) engineers are expected to walk off the job for four hours today, affecting up to 7,000 passengers. QAN shares are down 0.48 pct or 0.75 cent to $1.55 today, however has gained by more than 3.5 pct this week. It is important to remember that QAN has slumped by close to 40 pct in calendar year 2011.

Apple's newest product, the iPhone4S goes on sale today. There have been more pre-orders coming through from Victoria than any other Australian state. Apple (AAPL;us) rose 1.5 pct overnight.

Shortly, China will release its latest monthly inflation reading. The market is expecting inflation to have eased to 6 pct in September, due in large part to a moderation in food prices.

Ratings agency, Standard & Poor's (S&P) has downgraded Spain's credit rating from AA to AA- due in part to the unpredictable nature of financing in the Eurozone.

Following the start of daylight savings at the start of October, major Asian markets will be trading between the hours mentioned below until April next year (note that over the next month, some of the times might slightly off due to several countries in the region changing their clocks at differing periods).

The Hong Kong sharemarket trades in two sessions each day and will now open for trade between 1pm (AEDT) and 3.30pm (AEDT) while the second session is between 5.30pm (AEDT) and 7pm (AEDT).

Out of Japan, the first session will be between 11am (AEDT) and 1pm (AEDT) while the second session is between 2.30pm (AEDT) and 5pm (AEDT).

The Singapore exchange will be open for trade between 12pm (AEDT) and 3.30pm (AEDT) for the first session and then between 5pm (AEDT) and 8pm (AEDT) for the second.

Asian markets are mixed at lunch, with South Korea's KOSPI index down 0.66 pct or 12.07 pts to 1811.03 while Japan's Nikkei 225 index is 0.79 pct or 69.82 pts lower to 8753.43.

So far in trade at lunch, 700 million shares have been traded worth $1.4 billion. 290 shares are up, 479 are lower and 314 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar (AUD) is remaining above parity levels against the greenback for the second straight day and currently

The AUD is the world's fifth most traded currency behind the U.S dollar, the Euro, Japanese Yen and British Pound. The AUD accounts for around 7 pct of all foreign exchange trades.

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