MIDDAY REPORT (12.30pm AEDT)

The Australian sharemarket is losing ground for the fifth time in six days with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) down 0.4 pct or 16.8 pts to 4325.7. Most sectors are weaker with the exception of the defensive healthcare sector, the telcos and the Information technology (IT) sector which is gaining strongly.

The four big banks are mixed with ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) up 0.52 pct or 11 cents to $21.13 and National Australia Bank (NAB) is 0.12 pct or 3 cents higher to $25.21. Both companies are going ex-dividend on Thursday. Westpac (WBC) is currently the worst performing bank, down 4.35 pct or 96 cents to $21.12 after going ex-dividend today while Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is off 0.08 pct or 4 cents to $48.99. Investment bank, Macquarie (MQG) has also gone ex-dividend today for its 65 cent a share dividend scheduled to be paid on December 14 this year.

The country's largest miners are a little weaker with RIO Tinto (RIO) down 0.94 pct or 68 cents to $69.29 while the larger BHP Billiton (BHP) is 0.58 pct or 22 cents lower to $37.73.

Chemicals and explosives manufacturer, Orica (ORI) is doing better than most today after releasing its full year profit results. ORI shares are up 4.03 pct or 98 cents to $25.28. The company delivered a net profit of $642.3 million and declared a 53 cent a share final dividend. The result was broadly in line with consensus (market expectations).

The world's largest share registry, Computershare (CPU) is up 14.5 pct or $1.06 to $8.36 today after receiving regulatory approval for its US$550 million takeover of New York Mellon Corp's investor-services business.

The retail sector is mixed with David Jones (DJS) up 0.31 pct or 1 cent to $3.22 while Harvey Norman (HVN) is down 0.49 pct or 1 cent to $2.03.

There are around ten companies scheduled to hold their Annual General Meetings (AGMs) today, with no big names expected to meet.

Sharemarkets in Singapore, Malaysia and India are closed due to public holidays.

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 down 0.46 pct or 40.76 pts to 8760.64 while the Shanghai Composite index in China is down 0.39 pct or 9.85 pts to 2518.35. Shares in both Taiwan and the Philippines are also losing a little ground.

On the economic front today, a report has shown that the number of jobs being advertised in both newspapers and on websites have fallen by 0.7 pct. This makes it the sixth time in seven months that businesses are becoming more hesitant to take on additional staff.

So far in trade at lunch, 848 million shares have been traded worth $1.63 billion. 351 shares are up, 447 are lower and 317 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar (AUD) buys US103.7 cents at lunch.

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.

Steven Daghlian, CommSec Market Analyst

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