Aussie shares are higher at midday lifted by gains on U.S. and European markets overnight with energy stocks like Woodside Petroleum leading the gains on a rise in the price of oil.
The S&P/ASX200 index is up 25 points at 4,548 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s up 27 points.
In economic news: The unemployment rate remained flat at 5.8 per cent in August. Figures released by the ABS show an employment fall of 27,100 in August compared to a gain of 32,200 in July.
To business news at midday: Investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) says most of its major businesses improved in the fist quarter compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. Macquarie Securities, Treasury and Commodities and Banking and Financial Services all made good contributions, while Macquarie Capital’s performance was worse than in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. The company reconfirmed its earnings guidance provided at its annual general meeting in July, for midway between the first and second half profits in fiscal 2009. Macquarie Group shares fell 0.32 per cent to $49.56.
Rubber gloves manufacturer Ansell Ltd (ASX:ANN) says its CEO Doug Tough has handed in his resignation. Mr Tough will continue to be employed by the company until March 2010 allowing the company sufficient time to implement appropriate transitional arrangements. The company says it has a succession plan in place and has already identified internal candidates to be considered for the role. Ansell shares dropped 2.22 per cent to $9.27.
Turning now to market indices: All sectors are in positive territory at midday, however the sector with the biggest gain at midday is the Real Estate Investment Trust index up 17 points to 886. Shares in Mirvac Group up 4.14 per cent at $1.51. Shares in Westfield Group and CFS Retail Property Trust are also stronger at noon.
The sector with the smallest gain at midday is the Utilities index, up 5 points at 4,014. Shares in Energy Developments down 3.46 per cent to $2.51. Shares in AGL Energy and Spark Infrastructure Group are also lower.
Looking to New Zealand and the NZSX50 is 3 points higher. Taking a look at the top five stocks by value on the NZSX50: Fletcher Building tops the list its stock down 0.62 per cent at $7.97, followed by; Telecom of New Zealand, Guinness Peat, Fisher & Paykel Appliances and Auckland Airport.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at $992.80 US an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 85.98 US cents.
