Shrugging off a mixed lead from Wall St at the end of last week, the local share market is higher at midday, supported by gains in the top banks like Westpac and NAB.
Westpac today announced that it, along with its subsidiary St George Bank, will slash some bank penalty fees to $9 across credit cards, personal and business accounts.
The S&P/ASX200 index is up 14 points at 4,258 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s up 13 points.
In economic news: The Australian Industry Group/PricewaterhouseCoopers Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index rose 6.1 points to a read of 44.5 in July. However the index still remains under the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction.
And ANZ’s job ads survey revealed that total job ads fell 1.7 per cent in July from the month before. This was the 15th straight month of falls.
To business news at midday: Printing and distribution company PMP Ltd (ASX:PMP) says it has settled differences arising from the departure of former CEO Brian Evans in January 2009. Mr Evans sudden departure in January was followed by a lawsuit launched against PMP in relation to a termination payment of $1.56 million. In a statement released by PMP today, the company says that they have settled differences amicably and that both sides have agreed to a confidentiality clause, and no further statements will be made. PMP shares are steady at $0.42.
Grain industry service company GrainCorp Ltd (ASX:GNC) has upgraded its profit forecast for the current financial year in response to higher than expected grain receivals, export tonnage and higher budgeted export sales. Net profit after tax for the financial year ending September 30 2009, is now expected to be between $53 million and $63 million, up from previous guidance of $37 million to $42 million. Managing director Mark Irwin says the higher than expected export tonnage demonstrates that the removal of the bulk wheat export monopoly has encouraged more competition in the Australian wheat market, and is driving a more robust export program. GrainCorp shares rose 6.4 per cent to $7.98.
Turning now to market indices: the best performing sector at midday is the Financials Excluding Real Estate Investment Trust index up 72 points to 4,733. Shares in NAB up 2.22 per cent at $24.87. Shares in ANZ and Suncorp-Metway are also stronger at noon.
The worst performer at midday is the Utilities index, down 54 points at 4,162. Shares in APA Group down 2.13 per cent to $2.76. Shares in AGL Energy and Challenger Infrastructure Fund are also lower at noon.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 14 points higher.
Taking a look at the top five stocks by value on the NZSX50: Telecom of New Zealand tops the list, stock up 0.72 per cent at $2.80, followed by Telstra, Fletcher Building, APN News & Media and Sky Network Television.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is currently trading at $953.90 US an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 83.65 US cents.
