Australian Stock Market Report – Midday November 18, 2014

A man is reflected as he walks past the Australian Securities Exchange building in central Sydney April 8, 2011. Singapore Exchange Ltd has terminated its $8 billion bid for Australia's ASX Ltd after the Australian government formally rejected the offer on national interest grounds and said changes to the country's financial systems were needed before the bourse could be bought by foreigners. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz (AUSTRALIA - Tags: BUSINESS POLITICS)

 Local shares have been dipping in and out of positive territory so far today with investors remaining indecisive. The ASX200 Index is unchanged and has been approaching the 5400pt mark; a level not breached since late October.

 Global markets ended mostly firmer with the S&P500 once again cracking through record highs in overnight trade. Despite data on production and manufacturing falling short of forecasts overnight in the US, most equities managed to rise modestly.

 Ruralco (RHL) is up 1.7 per cent after recording an 86 per cent rise in Net Profit after Tax (NPAT) to $10.6m. Revenue rose by 21 per cent to $1.3bn. The agribusiness is hoping for relief from drought conditions in QLD and NSW, considers the weakening Australian dollar as a positive for agricultural exports and believes demand for cattle and sheep will remain firm this year.

 Thorn Group (TGA) is up 0.2 per cent after posting a 14 per cent rise in NPAT to $15.2m and a 33 per cent rise in revenue to $149.9m. TGA works within the household goods rental market and is the owner of both Radio Rentals and Rentlo.

 Mining shares are a touch firmer despite weaker commodity prices. The iron ore price slipped to US$75.1/tonne overnight while both gold and oil eased by 0.2 per cent. BHP Billiton (BHP) is up 0.5 per cent and Rio Tinto (RIO). The mining industry is down 1.1 per cent so far this month and hasn't improved since July.

 Volume is light with only 599.8m shares traded at lunch worth $1.2bn. 355 stocks are up, 341 are down and 339 are unchanged.

 The Australian dollar buys US$0.872, €0.699, £0.557 and ¥101.6.

 The weekly Roy-Morgan consumer confidence survey showed that sentiment fell by 1.6 per cent to a reading of 113.0 last week. A number above 100.0 still indicates a level of optimism.

 Markets across the region are mostly firmer at lunch. Japan's Nikkei 225 is up close to 2 per cent and is making up for most of yesterday's tumble following our second largest trading partner falling back into recession.

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