Australian Stock Market Report – Midday 10/29/13

Midsession Update
(12:30 AEST)

On the heels of a strong start to the week sellers got some modest traction at the outset of trade on Tuesday. One of the factors helping sellers was the weakness in US futures the start of the Asian session after the Apple result, post the close of Wall St.

Apple predicted lighter-than- estimated gross margins in the current period expecting them to come in at around 36.5 per cent to 37.5 per cent, compared to market expectations of 38 per cent. That's where sellers have been able to get some get traction early on Tuesday.

Banks have been the best performers on Tuesday in a falling market. ANZ has announced a $6.5 billion full year cash profit, an increase of 11 per cent on the last year. The cash profit was ahead of the markets expectations which focussed on a figure of $6.4 billion. It compares to a cash profit of $5.83 billion in the previous year. The bank´s net profit, which includes one-off financial items, was $6.3 billion, also up 11 per cent from $5.66 billion in the previous year. Impaired assets were down 18 per cent on last year and down nine per cent compared to March this year. The final, fully-franked, dividend of 91 cents meant its full-year distribution will come to $1.64 cents per share, up from $1.45 last year. This is a solid result, ahead of the markets expectations. That's important. That's all the banks need to do in the weeks ahead, Tick the boxes and the market will be in a better stead to consolidate at elevated levels.

Another factor giving sellers some leverage has been comments from the RBA Governor. Today's remarks by the Mr Glenn Stevens were delivered at the opening of an investor conference in Sydney and included the following points; Markets should prepare for the "tapering" shift by the US Fed in coming months. The US economy is recovering and China's growth is robust while the EU faces a weak, uneven and fragile recovery. Sentiment has lifted in the Australian economy but uncertainty prevails over the transition to higher activity. Rising house prices are part of the "normal cyclical dynamic" which should help lift construction. The AUD's current level is not supported by Australia's relative levels of costs and productivity. There was nothing new in the Governor's remarks concerning the RBA's view of the world and local economies although the comments around tapering would have given sellers a degree of leverage.

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