Australian Stock Market Report – Midday October 24, 2014

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, December 11, 2008. U.S. stock fell at the open on Thursday as investors worried about the fate of legislation to bail out troubled U.S automakers and signs the labor market was deteriorating as the recession worsens. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Reuters/Brendan McDermid

 Australian shares are rising for the eighth time in nine sessions and have completely made up for yesterday's pullback. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 0.3 per cent or 19pts to 5388. If the gains are maintained this afternoon this will be the best week for local shares since mid-February.

 US markets finished firmer overnight with the S&P500 Index rising by 1.2 per cent with strong profit results helping investor sentiment.

 ResMed (RMD) is a standout after recording a 6 per cent surge in quarterly revenue to $380m. Net profit improved by 3 per cent to $83.3m with new product launches driving growth over the past three months. RMD shares are up 5.2 per cent and have jumped by around 7 per cent this year.

 Qantas (QAN) is up 3.3 per cent after confirming it's on track to return to profit this year and announcing a 2.7 per cent jump in passenger numbers last month.

 AMP Limited (AMP) is a standout in the financial sector after more than doubling its cashflow between July and September to $476m. The wealth manager is up 3.1 per cent at lunch. The four major banks are improving by as much as 0.4 per cent and are adding to the sector's 0.45 per cent rise on Thursday.

 Mining stocks are sliding for the second day and are one of the only losers so far today. The world's largest miner BHP Billiton (BHP) is down 0.3 per cent, the smaller Rio Tinto (RIO) is 0.6 per cent softer and iron ore miner Fortescue Metals (FMG) is slumping by 2.1 per cent.

 Plenty of Annual General Meetings (AGMS) are being held today with carsales.com (CRZ), Quickflix (QFX) and Qantas (QAN) among the bigger names to be meeting with investors. QFX is an online movie subscription company and CRX is an online automotive advertising business.

 No major economic news is scheduled for release in Australia or the region today. Most markets across the region are trading normally today while India observes a holiday.

 Volume is a little light with 788.8m shares traded worth $1.78bn. 469 stocks are up, 318 are down and 296 are unchanged.

 The Australian dollar has fallen against the greenback and currently buys US$0.873. A confirmed case of the Ebola virus in New York has perhaps helped the Aussie's weaknesses.

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