Following Wall St’s decline overnight, Aussie shares are lower at midday. Energy stocks are weighing on the market after a fall in the price of oil.
The S&P/ASX200 index is down 81 points at 4,434 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s down 93 points.
In economic news: The ABS reports that Australia’s Gross Domestic Product rose 0.6 per cent in the second quarter after a 0.4 per cent rise in the first quarter. Economists had expected a rise of 0.2 per cent.
To business news at midday: National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) says it will write-down the carrying value of its $309 million receivable due from the Australian tax office to nil. The bank says the receivable was in relation to its exchangeable capital units dispute with the ATO. NAB says that the adjustment will be reflected in its income statement but will not impact cash earnings. NAB shares fell 2.36 per cent to $28.50.
Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group (ASX:BBI) has placed its shares in a trading halt today pending an announcement regarding a possible arrangement with a potential cornerstone investor to work towards a recapitalisation transaction. The debt laden company has been looking for possible investors to help offload assets to help repay its debt totalling close to $9.8 billion. Just last week the company posted a full year loss of close to $1 billion after incurring $895 million in write-downs on the group’s assets. Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Group shares are in a trading halt and last traded 7.8 cents.
Turning now to market indices: The best performing sector at midday is the Consumer Staples index up 21 points to 7,277. Shares in Metcash up 2.31 per cent at $4.43. Shares in Foster’s Group and Lion Nathan are also stronger at noon.
The worst performing sector at midday is the Energy index, down 404 points at 15,853. Shares in Paladin Energy down 5.98 per cent to $4.56. Shares in Tap Oil and Karoon Gas Australia are also lower.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 27 points lower. Taking a look at the top five stocks by value on the NZSX50: at the top of the list is Telecom of New Zealand, stock up 0.74 per cent at $2.71. The next biggest movers by turnover are Fletcher Building, Westpac, Fisher & Paykel Appliances and Sky City.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is currently trading at $954.90 US an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 83.06 US cents.
