MIDDAY REPORT
(12pm AEDT)

The Australian sharemarket is gaining for the second time this week, with the All Ordinaries index up 0.8 pct or 34.5 pts to 4284.00. Almost all sectors are up with the exception of the gold space which is tracking lower due to weaker gold prices overnight.

The world's largest miner BHP Billiton (BHP) released a report on the state of its production over the quarter (July to September). Iron ore shipments rose by 24 pct for the year, thanks to an improvement in rail infrastructure. BHP shares are up 0.6 pct or 22 cents to $36.62 while the smaller RIO Tinto (RIO) is down 0.53 pct or 36 cents to $65.93.

The major banks are all posting healthy gains with Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) up 1.39 pct or 66 cents to $48.11, ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) is 1.19 pct or 25 cents to $21.32, National Australia Bank (NAB) is 1.03 pct or 25 cents higher to $24.47 and Westpac (WBC) is up 1.07 pct or 23 cents to $21.81.

It is a busy day for company meetings today, with Webjet (WEB), CSL Limited (CSL) and Transfield Services (TSE) all holding their Annual General Meetings (AGMs). WEB is up over 2 pct after saying that its net profit after tax for the three months to September 30 rose to $4.65 million despite a level of consumer caution in the retail sector.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgraded the credit ratings of 24 Italian banks including Banca Monte Dei Paschi Di Siena, the world's oldest surviving bank (founded in 1472) overnight. The bank still has a large presence in Italy with around 3,000 branches and over four million customers. The bank was formed for the purpose of granting loans to the poor and need at a low interest rate.

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 be 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 mostly lower, with Japan's Nikkei 225 index is up 1.01 pct or 88.02 pts to 8829.93 while South Korea's KOSPI index is flat.

So far in trade at lunch 631 million shares have been traded worth $1.63 billion. 511 shares are up, 242 are lower and 282 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar (AUD) is remaining above parity levels against the greenback for the fifth straight session, and currently buys US102.5 cents.

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.