Aussie shares are lower at midday as financials lead declines and as resource stocks lose ground on lower metal prices. Industrials and telecommunication stocks are providing some support.
The S&P/ASX200 index is down 19 points at 4,675 and on the futures market the SPI 200’s up 2 points.
In economic news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that sales of new vehicles surprisingly rose 0.3 per cent in August as analysts had expected a decline. 75,388 vehicles were sold in August but that result is 6.2% lower than a year ago.
Making headlines at midday: a report in the Wall Street Journal last week has said that BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) has plans to use part of a cash surplus of around US$18 billion to fund a round of acquisitions in the mining and energy sectors. BHP shares are 1.21% lower at midday at $38.23.
As Qantas (ASX:QAN) released its annual report today, it emerged that former chief executive Geoff Dixon was paid $10.7 million in the 2009 financial year despite only serving 5 months in the role before being replaced by Alan Joyce. The salary was just 12 percent lower than his total salary for 2008 and could be controversial for Qantas shareholders. The report also showed that former chief financial officer Peter Gregg was paid $4.9 million despite being in the role only 3 months. In other news from the annual report, Qantas said that the global economic outlook remains uncertain and it is yet to see substantial improvements in business conditions. Despite the dull outlook Qantas shares are 1.08% higher at $2.81 at midday.
To market indices: The best performing sector at midday was the Industrials index which gained 34 points to 3,888. Shares in Brambles gained 3.34 per cent at $8.05. Shares in AJ Lucas and Macquarie Infrastructure are also higher at noon.
The sector with the biggest loss at midday is the Financials excluding the Real Estate Investment Trust index, down 45 points at 5,432. Shares in Insurance Australia Group lost 2.85% to $3.75. Shares in Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and AMP are also lower.
In New Zealand the NZSX50 is up 11 points.
Taking a look at the top five stocks by turnover on the NZSX50: The top stock is Telecom of New Zealand which fell 0.75% to $2.65. Followed by Fletcher Building, Auckland Airport, Contact Energy and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare.
To gold and the dollar: Gold is trading at $1004.75 US an ounce and the Aussie dollar is trading at 86.59 US cents.
