Australian Stock Market Report

MIDDAY REPORT (12pm AEDT)

The Australian sharemarket was closed yesterday due to the Australia Day public holiday and is gaining for the second time this week. The All Ordinaries index (XAO) is up 0.6 pct or 28.1 pts to 4357.2. Almost all sectors are improving however companies within the consumer discretionary industry are holding the market back.

Overnight, US markets closed lower on poor housing data, with new home sales off by 2.2 pct in December 2011 closing out the weakest year for sales on record. Also U.S. investors were unhappy with the outcome of quarterly profits from key brokerage firms E*Trade and telecommunication company AT&T. On Wednesday the U.S. markets rallied higher on the news that the U.S. Central Bank, The Federal Reserve had decided to extend its low interest rate setting period by nearly a year with expectation that interest rates will stay at 0.00 to 0.25 pct out until late 214.

Commodity prices rose strongly overnight partly due to a weaker greenback and that is helping the miners lift the market. RIO Tinto (RIO), Australia's second largest resource company is up by 2.05 pct or $1.38 to $69.73 while the larger BHP Billiton (BHP) is creeping towards that stubborn $38 mark and is up 1.18 pct or 44 cents to $37.85.

The major banks are all higher with Commonwealth Bank (CBA) currently the best, up 1.14 pct or 58 cents to $51.57. ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) is 1.07 pct or 23 cents higher to $21.65, Westpac (WBC) is 0.94 pct or 20 cents higher to $21.50 and National Australia Bank (NAB) is 0.45 pct or 11 cents higher to $24.31.

Medical equipment maker, ResMed (RMD) is up 6.3 pct or 16 cents to $2.70 after reporting record revenue and profit between October and December last year. The healthcare sector is up by around 0.6 pct at lunch.

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.

A number of markets are closed in the region due to the Lunar New Year public holidays; however the South Korean market is trading and is down by around 0.1 pct while Japan's Nikkei 225 index is down 0.01 pct or 0.78 pts to 8848.69.

So far in trade at lunch, 646 million shares have been traded worth $1.64 billion. 464 shares are up, 296 are lower and 343 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar (AUD) is buying US105.9 cents, €81 cents and £67.6 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.

Steve Daghlian, CommSec Market Analyst

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