Australian Stock Market Report – Midday 5/24/13

MID-SESSION REPORT

(12.30pm AEST)

Despite a slight rise on the open, local shares are falling by 1.3 per cent, taking the losses for the week so far to more than 3.5 per cent. If markets continue in this direction for the rest of the session, we're set to have the worst week in a year.

The last 48 hours have been tough for markets globally, with Bernanke hinting of a potential slowing in stimulus and disappointing economic news in China holding markets back. Yesterday was the worst day for Australian shares in two months, the Aussie dollar hit a 1.5 year low against the greenback, the miners slumped and the banks had their worst day of 2013.

Westpac (WBC) is down 2.24 per cent, National Australia Bank (NAB) is 1.1 per cent lower, Commonwealth Bank (CBA) is 1.13 per cent weaker and ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) is down 0.9 per cent.

One of the region's biggest operators of funeral homes, cemeteries and crematoria, Invocare (IVC) is down by 7 per cent after holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) with shareholders and receiving a broker downgrade this morning. Despite today's slump, IVC has been one of the most consistent improvers on the market since listing in 2003. Only over 2008 did IVC lose ground. Invocare is up by close to 30 per cent in 2013 (calendar year).

Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore are all observing public holidays today.

The Bank of Japan's Governor will be speaking at 12.55pm (AEST) today. He will be delivering a talk titled "Asia's search for steps towards stronger ties and integration". The Japanese yen has slumped this year due to massive stimulus by its central bank. The Japanese market is up around 40 per cent since January 2013. Japan is a third the size of the US but has a stimulus package almost as big on a monthly basis.

At lunch, 773.5 million shares have changed hands, worth $2.85 billion. 282 stocks are higher, 493 are in the red and 325 are unchanged.

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