Australian Stock Market Report

MIDDAY REPORT
(12pm AEDT)

After trading in the red for part of the morning, the Australian sharemarket is now gaining for the third time in five days. The All Ordinaries index (XAO) is up 0.2 pct or 10.2 pts to 4344.6. Despite a weak start to the day, the miners and big banks are now trading in the black which is giving the broader market a boost.

Australia's second largest miner, RIO Tinto (RIO) is wiping out most of yesterday's losses and is up 0.99 pct or 68 cents to $69.68 while BHP Billiton (BHP) is up 0.5 pct or 18 cents to $37.85. The country's biggest gold miner, Newcrest Mining (NCM) is down 1.02 pct or 35 cents to $33.97.

The four major banks were mixed over the first hour of trade however are now gaining in unison. Westpac (WBC) is up 0.33 pct or 7 cents to $21.17, ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) is 0.26 pct or 5.5 cents higher to $21.52, while both Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and National Australia Bank (NAB) are both up 0.18 pct.

The retailers are performing better than most at lunch, with David Jones (DJS) up 4.08 pct or 10 cents to $2.55 while Harvey Norman (HVN) is 3.9 pct or 8 cents stronger to $2.13. Supermarket chain, Woolworths (WOW) said that sales at its supermarkets were a little weak in the last three months of 2011; however sales came in broadly in line with market expectations. WOW shares are up 1.96 pct or 48 cents to $24.93.

On the economic front, a report has shown that property prices across the country are still remaining under pressure. Home prices in capital cities eased by 0.5 pct in the December quarter (October to December last year). Sydney was the best performing city over that period while Perth was the worst.

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.

Markets in the region are mostly mixed, with Japan's Nikkei 225 index up 0.21 pct or 18.77 pts to 8811.82, while South Korea's KOSPI index is up 0.6 pct or 11.58 pts to 1952.13. Shares in China and the Philippines are lower.

So far in trade at lunch, 820 million shares have been traded worth $1.38 billion. 385 shares are up, 306 are lower and 361 are currently unchanged. Activity remains extremely light at lunch.

The Australian dollar (AUD) is buying US106.2 cents, €80.7 cents and £67.5 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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