Following negative leads from Wall Street, the Australian share market continued its downward slide to open lower and be 0.6 per cent down at noon.
The Aussie dollar jumped sharply on the latest jobs report from the ABS which showed surprisingly strong results in October
The S&P/ASX 200 index is 24 points down at 5,099. On the futures market the SPI is 36 points lower.
Economic news
The ABS has reported a huge surge in jobs with 58,600 jobs created in October, well above expectations of 15,000. This brings the unemployment rate down to 5.9 per cent.
Company news
Santos Limited
(ASX:STO) has emerged from a trading halt following the announcement of a $2.5 billion capital raising. Santos also said it would sell its 35 per cent interest in the Kipper Gas field and announced Kevin Gallagher current CEO of Clough Limited would take the helm in early 2016. Shares in Santos plunged 15.29 per cent to $4.36 at midday
Graincorp Limited
(ASX:GNC) has confirmed earnings of $235 million with statutory profit of $32 million, in line with previous guidance. A final dividend of 2.5 cents per share will bring the full year pay out to 10 cents per share. Shares in Graincorp are trading down 0.86 per cent at $8.03.
Best and worst performers
The only sector making gains this morning is industrials, up 0.2 per cent to 4,835. Shares in Aurizon Holdings have risen 3.04 per cent and trading at $5.42. Shares in Veda Group and Austal are also stronger.
The worst performing sector is energy, falling 3.7 per cent to 8,336. Shares in Santos have fallen as stated earlier. Shares in AWE and LNG are also lower.
Gold and the dollar
Gold is trading at $US1,088 an ounce.
The Australian dollar is buying 71.18 US cents.
