Australian Stock Market Report – Midday 5/23/13

MID-SESSION REPORT

(12.15pm AEST)

The Australian share market is being heavily sold off in early trade, following a volatile night on Wall Street.

US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke appeared to confuse investors by neither comprehensively ruling in nor out the winding back of the QE3 stimulus program. The Dow Jones Index oscillated from record highs, up 150 points, before closing down 0.5 per cent, the biggest range in movement since March 2009.

Locally, we are seeing a lot of weakness from financial players with Westpac (WBC) the worst out of the big four.

News that car manufacturer Ford will pull out of constructing cars in Australia in October 2016 is also adding to the negative tone. 1200 jobs are expected to be affected.

In company news, James Hardie (JHX) shares have fallen 1.4 per cent due to changes to its asbestos liabilities and the impact of legal battles with the tax office. JHX posted a net profit of $47.19 million for the year to March 31, down 92 per cent.

Telstra (TLS) shares are also under downward pressure, following the announcement of a major restructure of its internal operations. TLS has not confirmed how many jobs may be lost.

Chinese manufacturing data (FLASH PMI) came in lower than expected, sending the Australian dollar to a fresh one year loss of US96.44c. Manufacturing fell to a seven month low of 49.6 in May versus April's final read of 50.4.

No major economic data is due in Australia today.

So far, 894 million shares have changed hands, worth $2.56 billion. 245 are up, 549 are down and 293 are unchanged.

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