Australian Stock Market Report - Midday 1/13/2012

MIDDAY REPORT (12.30pm AEDT)

The Australian sharemarket is improving for the third time this week, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) up 0.4 pct or 15 pts to 4253.4. Almost all sectors are higher however the consumer staples and telcos are trading in the red.

The retailers had a horrendous 2011, with some stocks halving in value over the year but the losses seem to be continuing. Department store owner, David Jones (DJS) is down 2.06 pct or 5 cents to $2.38 while Myer (MYR) is 1.46 pct or 3 cents lower to $2.03.

Commodity prices were mostly higher overnight which is benefiting our miners today. BHP Billiton (BHP) is up 1.1 pct or 40 cents to $36.77 while its closest competitor, RIO Tinto (RIO) is up 0.93 pct or 60 cents to $65.33.

The insurers continue to do it tough, with QBE Insurance (QBE) the worst performer of the day. QBE is down 5.11 pct or 58 cents to $10.77 adding to yesterday's 12.7 pct falls. QBE said that profit in 2011 will likely be 40 to 50 pct lower than earnings in 2010 partly due to the natural disasters which have taken place over the past 12 month.

The banks are all higher, with National Australia Bank (NAB) the best up 1.1 pct or 26 cents to $23.82 while the other three majors are edging higher by around 0.5 pct.

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 at lunch with Japan's Nikkei 225 index 1.03 pct or 86.46 pts higher to 8472.05, South Korea's KOSPI index is up 0.8 pct or 14.94 pts to 1879.51, shares in China's Shanghai Composite index is a touch higher while the Philippines Composite is also a few points higher.

As is usually the case on Friday, no major economic data is scheduled for release today.

So far in trade at lunch, 669 million shares have been traded worth $1.47 billion. 480 shares are up, 257 are lower and 321 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar (AUD) is stronger and buys US103.2 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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