daytrades - nov 15 - afternoon

Been a dull morning here for me. Put in low bids on EXS, CSD, PNA and few others. Tried to catch MDS. Decided its not a trading day for me and just going thru the research looking for the stocs that are holding up.

There's always another day. Hope others are doing better.

Don't forget to look at the Rally for Raks thread.

LUNCHTIME REPORT
Courtsey of Commsec

Australian stocks have ignored a weak offshore lead and are instead being supported by a raft of company news in early trade.

Shares in AMP Limited (AMP) and AXA Asia Pacific (AXA) were placed in a trading halt before open, after AMP launched another takeover offer for AXA’s Australia and New Zealand assets, a year on from its original bid which was thwarted by the National Australia Bank (NAB). The competition regulator rejected NAB’s bid earlier this year, and AXA confirmed it had been in talks with AMP. The new offer will see AMP and AXA’s parent company AXA SA offer $13.3 billion for the company, or at least $6.43 per AXA share. AMP last traded at $5.33 while AXA was last at $5.78.

Shares in the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) are firmer by 1.1pct to $49.07 after the lender reported a $1.6 billion cash profit for the three months to September.

BHP Billiton (BHP) is firmer by 0.4pct to $44.48 after officially walking away from its plans to purchase Canada’s Potash Corp and instead announce a share buyback.

The Australian dollar is buying US98.84c, £0.6123 and €72.08c.

Juliette Saly
CommSec Market Analyst