Afternoon all, been an action packed morning with runs in VOR,...

Afternoon all, been an action packed morning with runs in VOR, CGM, NDO. But not very convincing and taking profits is the order of the day. I was quite happy to get the last of the 2.8c off PIE and finally exit. Talk about sitting on capital. But the chart is giving signs that PIE might have something in the wings. I will let that one stew without me tho.

I guess news of RBA is out at 1pm? Someone will report it. Hopefully will be unchanged.

Main news is that Highland Lad has not cashed in his chips on the operating table and will be back next week. Yous will be pleased to get a bit more meat on your lunchtime updates. :>

In the meantime, here is the midday report courtesy of Commsec.

Happy Trades

MIDDAY REPORT
(11.30am AEST)

The Australian sharemarket is gaining for the second time this week, with the All Ordinaries index up 0.1 pct or 3.8 pts to 4674.2. The energy, resource, telecommunication and industrial stocks are managing to gain however most other sectors are trading a little lower.

The country?s largest miners are performing relatively well, with BHP Billiton (BHP) up 0.66 pct or 29 cents to $44.29 while its competitor, RIO Tinto (RIO) is up 0.19 pct or 16 cents to $83.31.

The major banks are mixed with ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) up 0.27 pct or 5 cents to $21.99 and Westpac (WBC) 0.18 pct or 4 cents higher to $22.06. National Australia Bank (NAB) is down 0.35 pct or 9 cents to $25.33 while Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is easing by 0.1 pct or 6 cents to $52.01.

The latest retail spending report was released yesterday and showed that the Australian consumer is still remaining very cautious when it comes to parting with their dollars. Department store owner, Myer (MYR) is down 1.55 pct or 4 cents to $2.54 while its competitor David Jones (DJS) is currently flat.

Australia?s second largest oil and gas producer, Woodside Petroleum (WPL) is down 0.29 pct or 12 cents to $40.90 while the smaller Santos (STO) is only off 0.07 pct or 1 cent to $13.46. The price of oil only rose 0.1 pct overnight to US$95 a barrel.

Following the end of daylight savings in April this year, major Asian markets will be trading between the hours mentioned below until mid October.

The Hong Kong sharemarket trades in two sessions each day and will now be opening for trade between 11.30am (AEST) and 2pm (AEST) and then between 3.30pm (AEST) and 6pm (AEST) in its second session.

Out of Japan, the first session will be between 10am (AEST) and 12pm (AEST), while the second session is between 1.30pm (AEST) and 4pm (AEST).

The Singapore exchange will be open for trade between 11am (AEST) and 2.30pm (AEST) for the first session and then between 4pm (AEST) and 7pm (AEST) in its second session.

The Asian sharemarkets are mixed, with shares in the Philippines up 1.61 pct, Japan?s Nikkei 225 flat and China?s Shanghai Composite index down by a few points.

It will be a big day for mortgage holders today, with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) making its decision on interest rates this afternoon. Expectations are for rates to remain on hold at 4.75 pct.

The best performing stock at lunch is Advanced Magnesium (ANM), which is up 32.08 pct or 1.7 cents to 7 cents. ANM is focused on developing technologies for the application of magnesium alloys. It was first listed on the ASX back in 1986 and has a market capitalisation of $18.89 million.

So far today, 700 million shares have been traded worth $880.9 million. 444 shares are up, 306 are lower and 328 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar is a little weaker and buys US107.1 cents.

Steven Daghlian
Commsec Market Analyst