Australian Stock Market Report

MIDDAY REPORT (12.30pm AEDT)

The Australian sharemarket is gaining for the third consecutive day with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) up 0.8 pct or 36.6 pts to 4440.5. Almost all sectors are improving with the exception of the defensive healthcare and telco sectors.

Activity in the market is also significantly higher than yesterday after the Australian sharemarket was only open for 2 hours due to a technical glitch. It was also options expiry day for shares yesterday which tends to increase the amount of volume and value flowing through markets the following day.

The mining sector is one of the standouts in percentage terms today, with the S&P/ASX 200 Materials index up 1.09 pct or 133.4 pts to 12049.8. Index leader (the largest company trading on the ASX), BHP Billiton (BHP) is up 1.72 pct or 66 cents to $39.01 while the smaller RIO Tinto (RIO) is 1.69 pct or $1.18 higher to $70.88.

The banking stocks are also performing broadly in line with the market, with ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) up 1.64 pct or 36 cents to $22.36, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) 1.08 pct or 54 cents higher to $50.53, Westpac (WBC) is 1.01 pct or 22 cents stronger to $22.98 and National Australia Bank (NAB) is up 0.81 pct or 20 cents to $26.07. Macquarie Group (MQG) is one of the standouts in the sector, up 3.74 pct or 90 cents to $25.26 despite a lower than expected profit result today. This will be looked at in more detail in the closing report this afternoon.

It is a big day for Qantas today (QAN) as it holds its Annual General Meeting (AGM) with shareholders. The board of Australia's largest airline is coming under fire from attendees in relation to its handling of employee pay rise demands. This all while the company's Chief Executive Alan Joyce is expected to receive a 71 pct pay increase to $5 million.

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 with Japan's Nikkei 225 index up 1.53 pct or 136.5 pts to 9063.04 while South Korea's KOSPI index is up 1.66 pct or 31.97 pts to 1954.01.

No major economic data is scheduled for release in Australia today. Japan on the other hand is releasing its latest unemployment rate which is expected to rise from 4.3 pct to 4.5 pct in addition to its Consumer Price Index (CPI), which simply measures the change in the prices of a basket of goods and services over the year.

It is the Queen's birthday public holiday in Perth today, with businesses and government offices closed for the day in Western Australia.

So far in trade at lunch, 1.43 million shares have been traded worth $4.99 billion. 671 shares are up, 285 are lower and 294 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar (AUD) buys US107 cents which is a full US3 cents higher than levels reached around 24 hours ago.

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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