Australian Stock Market Report

MIDDAY REPORT
(12pm AEDT)

The Australian sharemarket is gaining for the third time this week at lunch, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) up 0.3 pct or 12.4 pts to 4293. Most sectors are improving however the defensive telcos are pulling back slightly. Australian shares were up by around 0.5 pct prior to the release of some worse than expected employment numbers this morning.

The world's largest miner, BHP Billiton (BHP) is up 0.95 pct or 34 cents to $37.35, gaining for the third straight day following some slightly better than expected production numbers out yesterday. RIO Tinto (RIO) shares are up 0.51 pct or 31 cents to $66.90. Iron ore miner, Fortescue Metals (FMG) rose by more than 5 pct yesterday after announcing record iron ore production and strong demand after market close on Tuesday.

The four major banks are all improving, with National Australia Bank (NAB) up 1.18 pct or 27 cents to $23.93, Westpac (WBC) is 1.17 pct or 24 cents higher to $20.80, ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) is 0.38 pct or 8 cents stronger to $20.87 and Commonwealth Bank (CBA) is edging higher by 0.32 pct or 16 cents to $50.00.

Australia's second largest oil and gas producer, Woodside Petroleum (WPL) beat its full year production target today and is up 0.22 pct or 7.5 cents to $34.18 after two hours of trade.

The consumer staples sector is also easing slightly with supermarket giant Woolworths (WOW) one of the biggest drags, down 0.71 pct or 18 cents to $25.29.

On the economic front, there were 29,000 jobs lost across Australia in December which was significantly worse than expected. The unemployment rate actually fell from 5.3 pct to 5.2 pct regardless, due to a fall in the participation rate (the number of people in the workforce).

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.

The major Asian markets are mostly stronger at lunch with Japan's Nikkei 225 index up 0.94 pct or 80.11 pts to 8630.69 while South Korea's KOSPI index is up 0.82 pct or 15.44 pts to 1907.83.

So far in trade at lunch, 752 million shares have been traded worth $1.7 billion. 414 shares are up, 341 are lower and 327 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar (AUD) is buying US104 cents, €80.9 cents and £67.4 pence.

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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