Australian Stock Market Report

MIDDAY REPORT (12.30pm AEDT)

The Australian sharemarket is largely flat at lunch, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) down only 1.4 pts to 4241.5. The market's largest sector, the financials are up 0.2 pct with BHP Billiton (BHP) up 0.08 pct or 3 cents to $36.21 while the smaller RIO Tinto (RIO) is 0.12 pct or 8 cents higher to $64.27.

Last night, commodity prices ended largely flat with the exception of crude oil prices which fell quite sharply following higher than expected stockpiles of oil in the U.S. Australia's energy sector is down 0.35 pct or 46.7 pts to 13202.5 with Woodside Petroleum (WPL) down 0.86 pct or 28 cents to $32.14 while Santos (STO) is managing to hold on to a 0.16 pct or 2 cent improvement to $12.76.

The major banks are mostly higher which is helping minimise today's losses. National Australia Bank (NAB) is up 0.47 pct or 11 cents to $23.68, ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) is 0.24 pct or 5 cents higher to $21.13, Westpac (WBC) is up 0.1 pct or 2 cents to $20.65 while Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is up 0.04 pct or 1 cent to $49.95.

One of Australia's largest insurers, QBE Insurance (QBE) has been in a trading halt today and will resume trading at 12.50pm (AEDT). It has announced that net profit will fall by between 40 pct and 50 pct in 2011 from its 2010 result. QBE's final dividend is expected to fall to 25 cents a share and its share price is likely to plummet this afternoon when it returns to trade.

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 Japanese sharemarket is closed today for Coming of Age Day. This is a day which congratulates those who have turned 20 over the past year and reminds them of their added responsibilities.

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 mixed at lunch, with Japan's Nikkei 225 index down 0.58 pct or 48.93 pts to 8398.95, South Korea's KOSPI index is down 0.19 pct or 3.57 pts to 1841.98, the Philippines Composite index is up an impressive 1.86 pct or 84.78 pts to 4645.86.

The latest tourist arrivals report was released today in addition to credit and debit card statistics. It is quite clear that for the 12 months to November 2011 there were significantly more permanent settlers coming to Australia from New Zealand than from any other country. In fact, there were almost twice as many settlers from New Zealand than from China over that 12 month period.

So far in trade at lunch, 575 million shares have been traded worth $1.16 billion in what seems to be a slightly busier session of trade. 384 shares are up, 313 are lower and 343 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar (AUD) is a little weaker and buys US102.9 cents following the Chinese inflation figures, which were a little higher than market expectations.

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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