After a slow start to the month, the Australian sharemarket is gaining for the third straight day with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) up 1.4 pct or 63.6 pts to 4643.4.

All sectors are currently trading higher, with the energy sector, the miners and the industrials amongst the best performers.

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The world’s largest miner and index leader, BHP Billiton (BHP) is up 0.76 pct or 33 cents to $43.48 while RIO Tinto (RIO) is 1.18 pct or 96 cents higher to $82.49. Australia’s biggest producer of gold, Newcrest Mining (NCM) is up 1.05 pct or 39 cents to $37.48.

The big 4 banks have extended their gains at lunch, with ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) up 1.57 pct or 34 cents to $21.94, National Australia Bank (NAB) is 1.43 pct or 36 cents higher to $25.54, Westpac (WBC) is 1.28 pct or 28 cents stronger to $22.10 and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is up 1.11 pct or 57 cents to $51.94.

The retailers are mixed, with department store owner Myer (MYR) continuing to underperform its peers this week. Its competitor, David Jones (DJS) is up 1.5 pct or 6 cents to $4.05 while MYR is flat. Australia’s largest specialty retailer, Harvey Norman (HVN) is up 1.22 pct or 3 cents to $2.49.

International biopharmaceutical company, CSL limited (CSL) is one of the day’s standouts, with a 2.97 pct or 96 cent gain to $33.26 today. CSL received a broker upgrade earlier in the session.

Following the end of daylight savings in April this year, major Asian markets will be trading between the hours mentioned below until mid October.

The Hong Kong sharemarket trades in two sessions each day and will now be opening for trade between 11.30am (AEST) and 2pm (AEST) and then between 3.30pm (AEST) and 6pm (AEST) in its second session.

Out of Japan, the first session will be between 10am (AEST) and 12pm (AEST), while the second session is between 1.30pm (AEST) and 4pm (AEST).

The Singapore exchange will be open for trade between 11am (AEST) and 2.30pm (AEST) for the first session and then between 4pm (AEST) and 7pm (AEST) in its second session.

The Asian sharemarkets are only slightly stronger, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 0.54 pct or 119.6 pts to 22180.78, China’s Shanghai Composite index is 0.36 pct or 9.92 pts higher to 2738.41, shares in both the Philippines and Taiwan are up 0.3 pct while Japan’s Nikkei 225 index is flat with a drop of only 0.02 pct or 1.53 pts to 9795.73.

It is a busy day of economic releases today, with the latest job vacancies, private sector credit and home price information released.

The best performing stock at lunch is Voyager Resources (VOR), which rose 32.35 pct or 1.1 cents to 4.5 cents. VOR is a minerals exploration company, mainly focused on gold in Mongolia. It was first listed on the ASX in 1997 and has a market capitalisation of $43.53 million. Mongolia is considered to be one of the top 20 producers of gold.

So far today, 1.13 billion shares have been traded worth $1.61 billion. 649 shares are up, 356 are lower and 399 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar has gained strongly overnight and currently buys US107 cents.

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