Australian Stock Market Report – Midday November 25, 2014

IN PHOTO: Office workers are reflected as they walk 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

 The Australian market is having its worst day in close to six weeks with mining and energy stocks wiping out most of Monday's gains. The ASX 200 Index is down 0.9 per cent and remains just above the key 5300pt level. Local shares surged by 1.1 per cent yesterday following the surprise interest rate cuts in China.

 US markets closed at record highs overnight while shares in Germany rose by 0.5 per cent following a jump in business confidence. Shares in Japan have resumed trade after a holiday yesterday.

 Medibank Private (MPL) shares have opened at $2.22 per share at 12pm AEDT on its ASX debut today. This is 11 per cent higher than the retail offer issue price and around 3 per cent above the institutional issue price. Trading volume is quite significant at lunch.

 Aristocrat Leisure (ALL) is down 0.9 per cent after posting a $16.4m net loss for FY14. This compares to a $107.2 profit recorded in the previous year. The gaming company will be paying an 8cps final dividend to eligible investors on 19 December with a 28 November ex-dividend date. Chief Executive Jamie Odell said that "2015 will be a transformative year for Aristocrat..."

 Mining stocks are down 1.8 per cent after surging yesterday thanks to a surprise rate cut in China. BHP Billiton (BHP) is down 2.1 per cent while Rio Tinto (RIO) is shedding 1.8 per cent. Last week BHP slumped by 4.6 per cent, RIO by 6 per cent while iron ore miner Fortescue Metals (FMG) has been one of the more volatile - rising by close to 12 per cent yesterday and slumping by 5.5 per cent at lunch Tuesday.

 Plenty of Annual General Meetings (AGMs) are being held today with Harvey Norman (HVN), Retail Food Group (RFG) and Brickworks (BKW) included.

 Volume at lunch is 841.9m shares worth $2.4bn. 262 stocks are up, 467 are down and 309 are unchanged.

 No major market moving economic news is scheduled for release today. Earlier the weekly ANZ/Roy-Morgan survey of consumer sentiment jumped by 1.2 per cent this morning. RBA Deputy Governor Philip Lowe will be delivering a talk at 8pm AEDT.

 The Australian dollar is weaker and buys US$0.86, €0.691, ¥101.4 and £0.691.

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