Australian Stock Market Report - Midday 10/27/2011

MIDDAY REPORT (12.30pm AEDT)

It certainly has been a strange session so far, with the Australian sharemarket remaining closed due to a technical glitch. A few big names such as BHP Billiton (BHP), ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) seemingly kicked off trade normally for a few minutes this morning until a number of other businesses were opening in the wrong order.

The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) took action quickly and announced that markets will remain closed until a solution is found. The ASX has said that the small number of trades which were executed (traded) this morning will stand.

The timing of the glitch is also interesting because it is one of the most important days of the week for global markets with European leaders meeting to discuss a solution to the debt crisis.

Around 25 Australian companies are gathering for their Annual General Meetings (AGMs) today, including Flight Centre (FLT) and Suncorp (SUN).

National Australia Bank (NAB) posted its full year earnings results today, recording a $5.22 billion profit for the 12 months to September. This was broadly in line with market expectations.

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 stronger in early trade, with Japan's Nikkei index up 0.26 pct or 22.62 pts to 8771.09, while South Korea's KOSPI index is 0.28 pct or 5.32 pts higher to 1899.63.

No major economic data is scheduled for release in Australia today. New Zealand's central bank decided to keep rates at 2.5 pct for the sixth straight month today however. Japan's central bank (the Bank of Japan) is holding a press conference today to discuss the results of its monthly meeting.

The Indian sharemarket is closed today due to a public holiday.

So far in trade at lunch (due to around five minutes of action this morning), 58.3 million shares have been traded worth $93.6 billion. 145 shares are up, 111 are lower and 409 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar (AUD) buys US104.2 cents, almost a full 10 cents higher than at the start of October.

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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