daytrades march 17 afternoon, page-20

The Australian share market continued to climb at midday, fuelled by a rally in resource stocks and upbeat investor sentiment after the US Federal Reserve decided to put interest rates on hold.

All Ordinaries index had risen 32 points, or 0.68 per cent, at 4,841.

New data reveals Australia?s economy is expected to grow rapidly this year, driven in part by strong commodity prices, profits and productivity. The Westpac/Melbourne Institute?s index of economic activity posted an annualised growth rate of 6.3% in January, well above its long term trend of 2.7%. The index predicts the likely pace of activity three to nine months into the future.

Iron ore explorer FerrAus Ltd (FRS) will spin-off its Lawson Gold project into a new subsidiary company in order to focus on its core operations. The project, located about 45km north east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, comprises four mining licences and an exploration licence. As part of the spin-off, the company will conduct an Initial Public Offering through the issue of new shares. The new subsidiary would be called Lawson Gold Ltd, and FerrAus plans to list it on the ASX. By spinning off the project, the company says it can concentrate on its core Pilbara project in Western Australia, where it hopes to make the jump from explorer to producer. A scoping study has found the project could eventually produce 15 million tonnes a year of iron ore. Shares in FerrAus are 0.48% higher at $1.055.

Agribusiness group AWB Ltd (AWB) has downgraded its full year guidance to between $85 and $110 million. The company had forecast profit before tax and significant items for the year ending September 30, 2010, of between $115 and $140 million. AWB attributes the decrease to the expected reduction in annual profit before tax of $7 million due to sale of the Landmark Financial Services loan and deposit books. Apart from its Australian grain marketing business, the company says all key operating businesses are trading broadly in line with expectations. The company has forecast a profit before tax and significant items for the half year of between $25 and $35 million. AWB posted a loss of $250.82 million for the 12 months to September 30, 2009.

The best performing sector at midday is the Energy index, up 175 points at 15,553.

The worst performing sector is the Consumer Staples index, down 35 points to 7,732.

Gold is trading at US$1,128.15 an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 91.83 US cents.

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