Australian Stock Market Report

MIDDAY REPORT (12.30pm AEDT)

The Australian sharemarket is improving for the second straight day thanks to news that Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has agreed to step down later this month. This resulted in strong gains from the American markets late in trade this morning, which has translated in an impressive performance from shares locally. The All Ordinaries index (XAO) is up 1.4 pct or 60.5 pts to 4417.2.

Almost all sectors are improving with the exception of the defensive telecommunications sector. Telstra (TLS) is down 0.63 pct or 2 cents to $3.13.

The country's largest miners are rising strongly with BHP Billiton (BHP) up 2.57 pct or 97 cents to $38.70. BHP has traded over $38 a share on a few occasions over the past month however has struggled to remain above that level for more than a few days at a time. RIO Tinto (RIO) is up 2.68 pct or $1.87 to $71.64.

The big four banks are all gaining at lunch with National Australia Bank (NAB) up 1.45 pct or 38 cents to $25.81, ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) is 1.41 pct or 30.5 cents higher to $21.89. Westpac (WBC) is 1.32 pct or 28 cents stronger to $21.56 pct while Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is up 0.68 pct or 34 cents to $50.02.

The retail sector is being led higher by Myer (MYR) after the department store owner reiterated the fact that it is on track to meet its profit expectations for the full year. MYR is up 5.15 pct or 12 cents to $2.45 however is still down by close to 30 pct so far this year.

In the region, China's monthly inflation reading came in at 5.5 pct which was broadly in line with what the market was expecting and has not had a significant impact on the Australian sharemarket yet.

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 higher today, with Japan's Nikkei 225 index up 0.77 pct or 66.82 pts to 8722.33. South Korea's KOSPI index is up 0.95 pct or 18.08 pts to 1921.22.

On the economic front today, Westpac released its latest report on consumer confidence which showed that Australians are feeling better about the state of the economy and their own finances. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) also issued a report which showed that there were slightly more home loans issued for buyers of owner-occupied homes than expected in September.

So far in trade at lunch, 844 million shares have been traded worth $1.96 billion. 562 shares are up, 263 are lower and 324 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar (AUD) is stronger and buys US103.9 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.

Steve Daghlian, CommSec Market Analyst

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