The Australian sharemarket is gaining at lunch and is edging its way closer to the key 5000 pt mark, a level it has not traded above for an extended period of time since 2008. The All Ordinaries index (XAO) is up 0.8 pct or 39.2 pts to 4958.5.

Australia's largest insurer, QBE Insurance (QBE), came out of their trading halt prior to market open today and resumed trading at 10.20am (AEDT). QBE's share price went from strength to strength over the first few hours of trade and is currently up 7.62 pct or $1.29 to $18.23. QBE has acquired the Balboa Insurance Group (BIG) portfolio from Bank of America. BIG has provided risk management and loss mitigation services to the financial services, mortgage and auto finance industries for over sixty years.

Insurance Australian Group (IAG), updated the market on reinsurance and severe weather events today hoping to settle concerns from the public. IAG shares were not trading for a small part of the morning, however did resume trade at 12.02pm (AEDT), which was soon after releasing the update to the market at around 11.45am (AEDT). IAG shares are down 0.8 pct or 3 cents to $3.72.

Media giant, News Corp (NWS) continues to perform well today and is up 2.87 pct or 50 cents to $17.94 after posting strong quarterly earnings yesterday. The company announced higher income from TV advertising.

Australia's largest miner, BHP Billiton (BHP) has risen over 4 pct so far this week when including today's current gains of 0.86 pct or 40 cents to $46.72.

The country's big four banks are all higher with National Australia Bank (NAB) up 1.42 pct or 35 cents to $24.99.

On the economic front, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has released their statement on monetary policy today and has said inflation is expected not to be an issue over the medium term.

Most major Asian markets are closed for the Lunar New Year holidays with the exception of the Japanese markets.

Global Swiss mining giant, Xstrata PLC (XTA;gb), said that there was no major structural damage to the company's operations from Cyclone Yasi. XTA;gb shares in U.K trade rose 0.596 pct to 14.33 GBP overnight.

The Australian dollar (AUD) has gained throughout the first half of the day following the RBA's statement on monetary policy and currently buys US101.9 cents. The rebuilding after the floods are expected to boost GDP from 3.75 pct to 4.25 pct.