Australian Stock Market Report

MIDDAY REPORT (12pm AEDT)

The Australian sharemarket is losing ground for the second time this week with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) down 0.2 pct or 9.8 pts to 4341.5. Most sectors are lower with the energy and financial stocks holding the market back at lunch. The miners were lower in early trade, managed to creep into positive territory at around 11am (AEDT) only to pullback over the last hour.

The world's largest miner BHP Billiton (BHP) is down 0.57 pct or 21 cents to $36.81 while RIO Tinto (RIO) is up 0.15 pct or 10 cents to $66.35. The country's biggest gold producer, Newcrest Mining (NCM) is up 1.36 pct or 46 cents to $33.64.

The energy sector is also trading in the red with Santos (STO) one of the worst performers. There has been some speculation over the past few days that coal seam gas water containing dangerous levels of chemicals is seeping into the Murray Darling Basin. An interesting Oscar nominated documentary on the dangers of coal seam gas, GasLand was released last year in the U.S by Josh Fox, an independent film maker. STO is down 3.55 pct or 48 cents to $13.04 while the larger Woodside Petroleum (WPL) is 2.23 pct or 74 cents lower to $32.93.

Our big four banks are a touch lower with ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) the worst performer and is down 0.61 pct or 13 cents to $21.11. Westpac (WBC) is 0.42 pct or 9 cents weaker to $21.52, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is 0.2 pct or 10 cents lower to $50.07 and National Australia Bank (NAB) is largely flat.

Clothing retailer Fletcher Jones has become the latest casualty in the retail space. The company is being place into administration after almost 100 years in business. All stores will remain open until the future of the company is decided.

On the economic front today the latest monthly employment report was released at 11.30am (AEDT) and surprisingly showed that there were 6300 jobs lost last month while the unemployment rate edged higher to 5.3 pct. The market was expecting jobs growth of around 10,000.

In the region, it will be a big day for Japan due to a number of economic reports scheduled for release throughout the session.

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 lower with Japan's Nikkei 225 index down 0.83 pct or 72.55 pts to 8649.62 while shares in South Korea are down 0.3 pct or 5.69 pts to 1913.73.

So far in trade at lunch, 1.02 billion shares have been traded worth $1.32 billion. 328 shares are up, 395 are lower and 299 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar (AUD) is a touch lower and buys US102.5 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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