Australian Stock Market Report –Midday 4-18-13

MID-SESSION REPORT
(12.30pm AEST)

Yesterday's brief reprieve for the Australian market was short-lived, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) down 0.7 per cent at lunch. This is the third session of falls this week, with the mining sector the major industry to blame.

BHP Billiton (BHP), Rio Tinto (RIO), Newcrest Mining (NCM) and iron ore company Fortescue Metals (FMG) are all down by at least 3 per cent at lunch. The resource sector is down by a tragic 8 per cent this week and 16.9 per cent so far this calendar year. RIO is holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) with shareholders today whiile FMG has maintained its production guidance for the full-year today.

Woodside Petroleum (WPL), Australia's second largest oil and gas producer behind BHP has announced a sharp jump in production and revenue over the past quarter. This has been largely driven by its Pluto project in the Carnarvon Basin (about 190km north-west of Karratha in Western Australia).

Three of the four major banks are higher, which is helping minimise the losses at lunch. The Bank of Queensland (BOQ) made a cash profit of $119.9M over the past six months. It also announced an interim dividend of 28 cents per share, payable to eligible shareholders on 27 May 2013.

Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API) announced no revenue growth and underlying Net Profit After Tax (NPAT) of $12.6M over the first half. Its 1.5cps dividend was largely in-line with expectations and it seems to be keeping control of its costs. API is the company behind Soul Pattinson and Priceline and is down 3.2 per cent on the sharmarket.

Telstra (TLS) has been awarded a $1.1B contract to provide services to the defence department. TLS is trading at a five-year high, is up around 8 per cent so far this month and has improved for six straight days.

At lunch, 919M shares have exchanged hands worth $2.82. 216 stocks are currently higher, 607 are in the red, while 255 are unchanged.

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