Australian Stock Market Report - Midday 11/24/2011

MIDDAY REPORT (12pm AEDT)

The Australian sharemarket is a touch lower at lunch with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) down by only 0.1 pct or 3 pts to 4122.8. This an impressive performance for local shares considering that global markets took a battering overnight with European stocks trading at their lowest levels in 7 weeks after a failed bond auction by the Germans (this is one of the ways that governments raise funds).

Despite the very modest pullback so far today, half of the market is improving while the other half is holding the gains back. Australia's two largest miners, BHP Billiton (BHP) and RIO Tinto (RIO) are both a touch higher with RIO the best up 0.64 pct or 40 cents to $62.70. The country's biggest producer of gold, Newcrest Mining (NCM) is down however by 1.13 pct or 39 cents to $34.12.

The banks were mostly lower earlier in the session but have now managed to improve, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) the best so far up 0.69 pct or 32 cents to $46.59. National Australia Bank (NAB) is 0.31 pct or 7 cents higher to $22.44 while both Westpac (WBC) and ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) are broadly flat.

There are around 130 companies holding their Annual General Meetings (AGMs) with shareholders today including supermarket giant Woolworths (WOW), which is currently up 0.82 pct or 20 cents to $24.55.

One of the better performing stocks is Mesoblast (MSB), which is a developer of biological therapies and is commercialising adult stem cell-based products. MSB is holding its AGM today also and is up 5.57 pct or 37 cents to $7.01.

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 losing ground with shares in Japan currently down by around 1.9 pct while stocks in the Philippines are also struggling to remain positive. China's Shanghai Composite index is flat as is the South Korean sharemarket.

It will be a relatively quiet session for economic news with the head of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Glenn Stevens delivering his annual address to a group of business economists. This is considered to be the Christmas party (minus the fun) for economists.

So far in trade at lunch, 1.03 billion shares have been traded worth $2.02 billion. 273 shares are up, 575 are lower and 342 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar (AUD) is weaker and buys US97.1 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.

Steven Daghlian, Commsec Market Analyst

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