Shrugging off a weak lead from the U.S. overnight, the local share market is higher at midday, falls in mining stocks offset by gains in the banks like NAB and the Commonwealth Bank.
The S&P/ASX200 index is up 21 points at 4,163 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s up 30 points.
In economic news: The ABS says building approvals rose 9.3 per cent in June compared to the month before.
To business news at midday: Elders Rural Bank Ltd, a joint venture between Elders (ASX:ELD) and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, has reported a 10 per cent rise in profit for the year to June 30. Net profit after tax came to $45.1 million for the 12 months to June 30 2009, up from $41.1 million the year before. Managing director Paul Hutchison noted that the banks performance in 2009 highlights the quality of the loan book and the strength of the bank’s funding composition. Elders says loans under management at June 30 was $3.68 billion slightly higher than last years figure of $3.65 billion, with total deposits also slightly higher than the year before at $3.75 billion. Elders shares gained 10.2 per cent to 27 cents.
Forestry company Gunns Ltd (ASX:GNS) says it has been chosen by the Port of Portland in Victoria as preferred provider of a second hardwood chip facility at the port. Gunns says it will finalise the contractual arrangements and design the new facility over the next three months. CEO of the Port of Portland, Scott Paterson, says the port expects to be handling over 3 million tonnes of plantation-grown hardwood chips a year from 2011, and at the moment the port can only handle one quarter of this volume. Mr Paterson says Gunns proposes to fund and operate the new facility. Gunns shares added 0.53 per cent to 95 cents.
Turning now to market indices: the best performing sector at midday, is the Telco Services index up 25 points to 1,247. Shares in Telstra up 2.27 per cent at $3.61. Shares in Macquarie Telecom Group and Telecom of New Zealand are also stronger at noon.
The worst performer at midday is the Materials index, down 90 points at 10,814. Shares in Equinox Minerals down 5.19 per cent to $2.74. Shares in Anvil Mining and Sandfire Resources are also lower at noon.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 8 points lower. Taking a look at the top five stocks by value on the NZSX50: Telecom of New Zealand tops the list, stock down 0.36 per cent at $2.80, followed by Fletcher Building, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Westpac and Sky City.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is currently trading at $931.40 US an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 81.67 US cents.
