Australian Stock Market Report – Midday 11/28/2012

MID-SESSION REPORT
(12.30pm AEDT)

The local share market has followed Wall Street into the red in the early session. Sellers moved in on blue chip stocks in late trade in New York as talks between the Republicans and Democrats over the "Fiscal Cliff" issue stalled.

At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index is down 21.5pts or 0.5pct to 4451.9.

Poker machine maker Aristocrat Leisure (ALL) has reported its full year profit more than doubled to $45.5 million, a rise of 129pct. The result is for just nine months as ALL has changed its reporting dates. The company says it expects further growth as it releases new gaming products. Despite an initial spike on open, ALL shares are in the red at lunchtime, down 0.7pct to $2.84.

Discount retailer JB Hi-Fi (JBH) has announced plans to expand into the white goods market. The retailer says four of its stores in Queensland will trial home appliance sales, with two more to follow next year. Investors don't seem that impressed by the move, with JBH down 6pct to $10.04. The loss marks a bit of a setback for the share price, which has been recovering slowly after hitting a 52-week low in late June of $7.83.

Telstra is one of the best performing stocks on the ASX200 today, up 0.5pct to $4.31.

The Australian dollar is worth US104.4c, £0.652 and €80.75c.

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